THE    SPANISH 
COLONIAL    SYSTEM 


\YILH  I<LM    ROSCHKR 


ION    EDITED    UN 

KHWARD    (1AYLORD     HOl'RNK 

t'roft  ss,»-  of  Histo*  v   in    \\ile    Univey^i'y 


\F.\Y    \()RK 

IIRNRV    HOLT   AND   COMPANY' 

1904 


RIIRA1 


THE    SPANISH 
COLONIAL    SYSTEM 


BY 


WILHELM    R6SCHER 


TRANSLATION   EDITED  BY 

EDWARD    GAYLORD    BOURNE 

Professor  of  History  in  Yale  University 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 
1904 


Cc   _ 

BY 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 


ROBERT  DRUMMOND,   PRINTER,   NBW  YORK 


PREFACE 

THE  secular  rivalry  and  conflict  between  the  colonial  inter- 
ests of  England  and  Spain  which  the  United  States  inherited, 
the  many  points  at  which  our  history  touches  that  of  the  former 
Spanish  colonies,  and  the  earlier  and  later  absorption  of  Spanish 
possessions  within  our  national  boundaries  make  an  intelligent 
appreciation  of  the  work  of  Spain  as  a  colonizing  power  an  impor- 
tant object  in  the  study  of  American  history.  Such  a  knowledge 
of  the  aims  and  work  of  Spain  is  no  less  necessary  an  adjunct  to 
the  understanding  of  the  political  problems  of  to-day  in  the  West 
Indies  and  in  the  Philippines.  The  treatments  of  the  subject 
in  our  ordinary  text-books  and  in  the  popular  narrative  histories 
are  at  best  inadequate  and  too  often  misleading  through  the 
prejudices  or  lack  of  knowledge  of  their  authors.  What  is  needed 
is  a  broad  historical  and  comparative  treatment  of  the  subject 
such  as  will  be  found  in  the  chapter  here  presented  in  English 
from  Roscher's  Kolonien^  Kolonialpolitik  und  Auswanderung 
(Third  Edition,  Leipzig,  1885). 

The  great  profit  I  have  derived  from  the  study  of  this  admir- 
able work  has  long  made  me  wish  it  were  available  for  class  use 
and  for  collateral  reading,  and  it  is  in  the  hope  of  making  a  useful 
addition  to  the  materials  for  the  study  of  our  colonial  history  or 
the  history  of  colonization  in  general  that  I  have  undertaken  an 
English  edition  of  this  chapter  which  is  complete  in  itself. 

The  translation  is  principally  the  work  of  Dr.  Ernest  H. 
Baldwin,  but  I  have  carefully  revised  it  and  am  alone  respon- 
sible for  it  in  its  present  shape.  To  facilitate  the  consultation  of 
Roscher's  authorities  for  further  reading  or  investigation  short 
bibliographical  notes  have  been  added  where  they  seemed  likely 

to  be  useful. 

iii 


IV  PREFACE 

In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  remark  that 
there  is  much  that  is  still  valuable  in  Robertson's  account  of  the 
Spanish  Colonial  System  as  given  in  the  eighth  book  of  his  His- 
tory of  America,  especially  in  the  notes;  that  the  rich  materials 
in  H.  H.  Bancroft's  Central  America  and  Mexico  are  too  often 
overlooked;  and  that  Konrad  Habler's  admirable  chapters  on 
the  "Spanish  Colonial  Empire,"  in  the  first  volume  of  Helmolt's 
History  of  the  World,  as  the  work  of  a  scholar  who  has'critically 
investigated  the  economic  history  of  Spain,  will  amply  reward 
careful  study. 

E.  G.  B. 

NEW  HAVEN,  November,  1903 


THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

THE  sixteenth  century  saw  the  accomplishment  of  two  great 
historical  events  of  world- wide  importance:  the  exploration  of 
the  globe,  and  the  reformation  of  the  church.  The  latter  task, 
belonging  particularly  to  the  spiritual  realm,  devolved  chiefly  on 
the  Germanic  peoples;  the  former,  of  a  more  material  nature, 
on  the  Romance  nations. 

Italy's  Share  in  Spain's  Achievements. — During  this  entire 
century  Spain  was,  undoubtedly,  the  foremost  power  of  Europe; 
yet  in  all  of  her  splendid  achievements  she  had  to  rely  upon  Italy. 
For  example,  in  the  sphere  of  religion,  the  foundation  of  the  Order 
of  Jesuits  and  the  Council  of  Trent  took  their  origin  from  Spain 
and  Italy,  equally;  upon  the  whole  it  would  be  difficult  to  say 
whether  the  restoration  of  the  Catholic  Church  at  that  time — 
that  violent  recoil  of  the  Reformation — is  owing  more  to  the 
Spaniards  or  to  the  Italians.  How  often  the  Spanish  armies,  in 
that  age  the  leading  troops  of  the  world,  were  led  by  Italian 
generals!  Recall  only  Spinola  and  Alexander  of  Parma,  not  to 
mention  Pescara.  I  And  do  not  Spanish  literature  and  art,  which 
from  the  time  of  Philip  II  to  that  of  Louis  XIV  unquestionably 
led  those  of  all  Europe,  constitute  in  many  respects  a  beautiful 
silver  age  of  the  art  and  literature  of  Italy?  Similarly  the 
discovery  of  the  New  World  was  effected  not  less  by  Italians 
(Columbus,  Amerigo,  Cabot)  than  by  Spaniards.  The  former,' 
as  a  rule,  made  the  beginning  on  the  sea;  the  latter,  the  actual 
conquest. 

Under  the  Hapsburgs. — He  who  would  study  the  Spanish 
colonial  system  in  its  peculiar  completeness  must  keep  in  view 
the  century  and  a  half  from  the  accession  of  Philip  II  to  the  end 


2  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

of  the  Hapsburg  male  line.1  During  the  conquest  the  govern- 
ment could  do  little  more  than  gradually  to  develop  its  system,  and, 
in  contest  with  the  unrestrained  assertions  of  independence  on  the 
part  of  the  conquistadores,  to  put  it  into  effect  step  by  step.  On 
the  other  hand  the  Bourbon  dynasty,  in  the  administration  of  their 
colonies  as  in  almost  every  other  respect,  disturbed  the  old  Spanish 
order  by  imitating  foreigners.  We  cannot  properly  explain  the 

/-later  colonial  policy  of  the  Spaniards  as  a  natural  development; 

/  it  is  rather  partly  derived  from  the  old  Spanish,  and  partly  from 
the  French  and  English  policies  of  the  eighteenth  century.2 

Agriculture  not  the  Chief  Aim  of  Spanish  Colonization. — How 
little. -attention,  on  the  whole,  the  conquistadores  directed  to  agri- 
cultural colonies,  considering  their  various  services  in  the  trans- 
plantation of  domestic  animals,  cereals,  and  vegetables  from  the 
Old  Fo  the  New  World,  is  very  clearly  shown  by  Peter  Martyr, 
who  condemns  the  expedition  to  Florida  with  the  words :  "  For 
what  purpose  do  we  need  such  products  as  are  identical  with  those 
of  southern  Europe  ?  "  It  is  true  that  Columbus' s  second  voyage 
of  discovery  had  a  settlement  in  view,  and  for  that  reason  was 
provided  with  dnmestic__animalsj  seeds,  etc.  It  was  a  failure, 
however,  owing  to  the  mutinous  spirit  of  the  Spaniards.  The 
third^expedition  was  directed  in  accordance  with  a  very  definite 
plan,  wifE  a  stipulated  number  of  laborers,  peasants,  and  women; 
it  was  particularly  unfortunate,  however,  that  so  many  criminals 
were  transported  with  it.4  The  regions  which  were  best  adapted 

1  More  exactly  from  1542,  when  Charles  V  proclaimed  the  celebrated  "New 
Laws."     [On  these  "New  Laws"    see  Lea,   Yale  Review,  Aug.,   1899,    "The 
Indian  Policy  of  Spain." — B.] 

2  As  the  chief  source  for  this  whole  section,  I  have  used  the  excellent  official 
codification:    Recopilacion  de  Leyes  de  los  Reynos  de  las  Indias,  4  vols.,  fol.,  3d 
edition,  1774. 

3  Peter  Martyr,  Ocean.  Dec.,  VIII,  cap.  10.     Cortes  is  an  honorable  exception 
to  this.     He  introduced  into  Mexico  the  cultivation  of  sugar-cane,  wool,  and 
silk -growing,  and  devoted  no  excessive  consideration  to  the  production  of  precious 
metals.      Compare   Prescott,    Conquest  of  Mexico,   III,     294.     [Peter   Martyr's 
Decades  are  accessible  in  English  in  Lok's  translation  in  vol.  V  of  Hakluyt's 
Voyages,  London,   1809-1812. — B.] 

4Herrera  I,  3,  2.  [Herrera's  Historia  General  de  los  Hechos  de  los  Castel- 
lanos  en  las  Islas  y  Tierra-Firme  de  el  Mar  Oceano  is  accessible  in  English  in 
a  somewhat  abridged  and  inaccurate  translation  by  John  Stevens  under  the 


SPANISH   CHARACTER  3 

to  agricultural  colonies,  as-,  for  example,  Caracas,  Guiana,  Buenos 
Ayres,  were  neglected  by  the  Spaniards  for  centuries.  As  they 
saw  no  advantage  in  the  conquest  of  these  countries,  they  seized 
the  inhabitants  to  sell  them  as  slaves.1  In  this  way,  the  Span- 
iards, although  they  were  always  ashamed  to  engage  in  the  negro 
slave  trade  themselves,  by  their  traffic  in  Caribs  exemplified  all 
its  horrors.2 

Spanish  Character. — The  character  of  the  Spanish  people  has, 
from  the  beginning,  been  prone  to  indolence  ttd_jmd£.  All 
thrifty  activity  was  regarded  as  despicable.  No  trader  had  a  seat 
in  the  Cortes  of  Aragon.  As  late  as  1781  the  Academy  of  Madrid 
was  obliged  to  offer  as  the  subject  for  a  prize  essay  the  proposi- 
tion that  there  was  nothing  derogatory  in  the  useful  arts.  Every 
tradesman  and  manufacturer  sought  only  to  make  enough  money 
to  enable  him  to  live  on  the  interest  of  it  or  to  establish  a  trust 
fund  for  his  family.  If  he  was  successful  he  either  entered  a 
cloister  or  went  to  another  province  in  order  to  pass  for  a  noble. 
In  Cervantes  we  find  the  maxim:  "Whoever  wishes  to  make  his 
fortune  seeks  the  church,  the  sea  (i.e.j  service  in _Amenca),  or 
theL  Jdrig~V  loouse."  The  highest  ambition  of  the  nation  in  its 
golden  age  was  to  be  to  Europe  just  what  the  nobility,  the 
clergy,  and  the  army  were  to  single  nations.  Consequently 
there  was  an  enormous  preponderance  of  personal  service  in  the 
industrial  organism,  and  much  of  this  was  purely  for  ostentation. 

title  General  History  of  the  Continent  and  Islands  of  America,  London,  1725  and 
later.— B.] 

1  In  Caracas,  especially,  this  was  extremely  difficult  because  of  the  number 
and  bravery  of  the  natives;    compare  Depons,   Voyage  a  la  Partie  Orientale  de 
la  Terre-Ferme,  I,  96  ff.     [Depons's  Voyage  was  translated  by  Washington  Irving 
under  the  title  of  Voyage  to  the  Eastern  Part  of  Terra  Firma  or  the  Spanish  Main, 
3  vols.,  New  York,  1806.     Later  editions  have  varying  titles. — B.] 

2  Benzoni,  Hist,  del  Hondo  Nuevo,  4,  7  ff.     Humboldt,  R.  H.,  I,  324.     [Ben- 
zoni's  Historia  del  Nuevo  Hondo  is  accessible  in  English  in  the  version  by  W.  H. 
Smyth  for  the  Hakluyt  Society,  London,   1857.     On  Benzoni  as  an  authority 
see  the  note  under  his  name  in  Larned's  Literature  of  American  History.     Hum- 
boldt, R.  I?.,  refers  to  Humboldt's  Relation  Historique,  originally  published  in 
Humboldt  and  Bonpland,  Voyage  aux  regions  Equinoxiales  du  Nouveau  Continent, 
1720-1804,  Paris,  1814.     It  is  accessible  in  English  as  the  Personal  Narrative  of 
Travels,  etc.,  translated  first  by  Helen  Maria  Williams,  7  vols.,  London,  1818- 
1829,  and  again  by  Thomasina  Ross,  3  vols.,  London,  1852-1853,  Bohn's  Scien- 
tific Library.— B.] 


4  THE  SPANISH  COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

Nowhere  in  the  world  were  there  so  many  nobles,  so  many  officers, 
civil  and  military,  so  many  lawyers  and  clerks,  priests  and 
monks,  so  many  students  and  school-boys,  with  their  servants. 
But  as  truly,  nowhere  in  the  world  were  there  so  many  beggars 
and  vagabonds. 

Policy  of  the  Crown  in  Behalf  of  the  Natives. — The  Spanish 
colonies  were,  originally,  pure  conquest  colonies.  Very  early, 
however,  the  crown  sought  to  interpose  between  the  conquerors 
and  the  conquered,  and  to  place  the  exploitation  of  the  natives 
under  restrictions  that  would  be  humane  and  lasting.1  The 
frequent  very  violent  conflicts  of  the  government  with  the  con- 
quistadores  in  behalf  of  the  natives  may  be  compared  with  those 
of  England  against  the  planters  in  favor  of  the  negroes,  Hot- 
tentots, etc.2  Charles  V  had  such  a  scientific  interest  in  the 
characteristics  of  his  new  subjects  that  he  even  established  pro- 
fessorships of  the  Mexican  language  and  antiquities.3 

The  Koyal  Encomenderos. — According  to  the  constitutional 
law  of  the  Indies  the  land  and  the  soil  in  all  colonies  were  the 
domain  of  the  king;  therefore  the  encomiendas,  which  were 
granted  only  to  discoverers,  jind ..other  men  of  conspicuous  merit, 
were  to  be  considered  not  so  much  as  landed  estates  as  public 
offices.4  The  encomendero  was  jLrjrjpj.nte^^nd_sworn  (law  of 
1532)  for.,the  express  purpose  of  .giving  his  Indians  military  pro- 
tection (law  of  1552)  and  of  promoting  politically  and  religiously 
their  conversion  to  civilization  (laws  of  1509,  1554,  i58o).5  Who- 
ever neglected  to  do  this  lost  his  encomienda  (laws  of  1536,  1551). 
It  is  characteristic  that  the  Spaniards  so  readily  combined  the 
functions  of  discoverers,  pacificators,  and  founders  of  settlements  ;8 

1  As  early  as  the  time  of  the  Catholic  Queen  Isabella;  cf.  her  will,  Recopilacion, 
VI,   10,   i.     Columbus's  ruin  was  principally  occasioned  by  his  exportation  of 
Indian  slaves  to  Seville  (Ausland,  1856,  No.  40). 

2  Compare  Humboldt,  Kriiische  Untersuchung,  II,   201  ff.     Cortes  is  again 
an  honorable  exception;   cf.  his  will  in  Prescott,  III,  306. 

3  Wappaus,  Mittel-  und  Sudamerika,  37  ff. 

4  Compare  Recopilacion,  VI,  8,  9,  n. 

5  The  king  also  had  the  right  to  attach  pensions  up  to  a  certain  amount, 
as  a  charge  upon  the  encomiendas. 

6  Philip  II  had  already  forbidden  the  word  "conquest'5  in  his  law  concerning 
the  Poblaciones.    Recop.,  IV,   i,   6. 


COMPULSORY  SERVICES;    THE  MITA  5 

as  a  matter  of  fact  most  of  the  Indian  races  were  led  to  a  civil  life, 
in  our  sense  of  the  word,  by  them.1  In  order  to  prevent  extor- 
tion no  encomendero  could  own  a  house  in  his  village  or  stay 
there  more  than  one  night  (law  of  1609,  1618).  Not  even  his 
nearest  relatives  or  his  slaves  could  enter  the  encomienda  (law  of 
1574,  1550,  and  often).  He  was  forbidden  to  maintain  any  indus- 
trial establishment  in  the  encomienda  (law  of  1621),  or  to  take 
into  his  house  any  of  the  inhabitants  (law  of  1528).  That  the 
Indians  were  free  men,  that  they  could  not  be  sold  by  an  encomen- 
dero, was  recognized  in  many  laws.2  After  the  legislation  of  1542 
some  of  the  Indians  were  the  immediate  subjects  of  the  king,  and 
the  rest  dependents  attached  to  the  encomiendas.  The  former 
paid  three-fourths  of  their  taxes  to  the  treasury,  and  the  latter 
the  same  proportion  to  their  landlords.  The  right  of  holding 
an  encomienda  was  granted,  regularly,  for  two  generations,  except 
in  New  Spain,  where,  on  account  of  the  very  unusual  services 
rendered  by  the  conquerors,  it  was  granted  for  three  and  even 
four  generations.3  During  the  eighteenth  century  many  of  the 
families  of  the  landlords  died  out  and  their  possessions  were  not 
again  granted.  The  authorities  always  interested  themselves 
in  the  cause  of  the  Indians,  until  at  length  Charles  III  abolished  I 
the  encomiendas.4 

Compulsory  Services^,  the  Mita. — From  the  beginning  an  effort 
was  made  to  moderate  the  military  power  by  means  of  jurists 
(so-called  licenciados)  and  Philip  II  made  the  attorneys  (fiscales) 
of  the  royal  courts  the  official  protectors  of  the  Indians.5 
To  insure  impartiality,  none  of  the  higher  civil  officers  who  had 

1  In  regard  to  Mexico,  I  will  mention  only  two  points:  first  that  the  number 
of  yearly  human  sacrifices  there  before  the  conquest  has  been  estimated  at  20,000 
(Prescott,  I,  72);  also  that  Cortes,  at  least,  made  an  earnest  effort  not  to  impose 
more  taxes  on  the  conquered  than  they  had  paid  to  their  former  lords  (ibid., 

HI,  3C5). 

*  Recopilacion,  VI,  2,  i,  n. 

'Ibid.,  VI,  ii,  14. 

4  Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  I,  144  ft.  [Humboldt's  Essai  Politique  sur  le  Roy- 
aume  de  la  Nouvelle  Espagne,  first  published  as  Part  III  of  Humboldt  and  Bon- 
pland,  Voyage,  etc.,  1811.  Four  of  the  six  livres  of  the  original  were  translated 
into  English  by  John  Black,  2  vols.,  London,  1811. — B.] 

6  Recopilacion  II,  18,  34;    compare  VI,  6. 


6  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

to  do  with  the  administration  of  American  affairs  could  have  an 
encomienda,  or  even  profit    by  the   cwmoulsorj __service   of  the 

t  Indians^  (law  of  1542,  1609,  and  often).  The  compulsory  labor 
of  the  Indians  was  devoted  to  mining,  road-making,  maize  cul- 
ture,  cattle- raising,  and  similar  necessities;  never  to  wine,  sugar- 
cane or  like  luxuries.  In  Peru  not  more  than  one-seventh,  in 
Mexico  not  over  four  per  cent,  of  the  Indians  could  be  summoned 
to  service;  for  mining  only  such  were  drafted  as  lived  within  a 
certain  distance  of  the  mines.2  Moreover,  how  far  from  oppres- 
sive the  latter  service,  the  so-called  mita,  was,  is  best  seen  in  the 
fact  that  many,  when  it  was  not  their  turn,  applied  for  it,  and 
those  bound  to  it  (mitayos)  often  worked  longer  hours  to  gain 
the  high  wages  promised  for  so  doing.3 

Treatment  of  Indians. — On  the  whole  the  treatment  of  the 
Indians  was  as  humane,  perhaps,  as  was  practicable,  consider- 
ing^Ehat  they  were  regarded  as  minors  and  in  view  of  what  was 

\  necessary  to  secure  the  Spanish  sovereignty.4  No  Indian  was  to 
carry  arms  or  learn  the  manufacture  of  them  (law  of  1501  and 
often) ;  the  possession  of  horses  was  also  forbidden  them  (law  of 
1568);  however,  all  such  provisions  were 'soon  without  force.  If 
they  were  obliged  to  live  in  villages  (law  of  1551  and  often)  and 
forbidden  to  change  their  dwelling-place  without  the  permission 
of  the  authorities  (law  of  1560,  1604,  1618),  yet  we  can  find  in  this 
only  a  salutary  police  regulation  by  which  a  relapse  to  the  bar- 
barism of  a  hunter's  life  might  be  prevented.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  Indian  is  extraordinarily  inclined  to  such  relapses.  The 
prohibition  of  the  whites,  mulattoes,  etc.,  from  settling  among 
the  Indians  (law  of  1536),  and  of  the  merchants  from  remaining 
longer  than  three  days  among  them  (law  of  1600),  was  designed 
to  protect  them  from  ruthless  exploitation  by  those  of  superior 
abilities.  Every  Indian  village  had  a  native  cazique,  whose  office 
was  often  hereditary.5  The  government  restricted  his  authority 

1  Recopilacion,  VI,  12,  42;   II,  3,  15. 

2  Ibid.,  VI,   12. 

8  Ulloa,  Noticias  Americanas,  cap.  14  (1772). 

4 Recopilacion,  VI,  10:   "Del  Buen  Tratamiento  de  los  Irtdios." 

5  Mestizos  were  not  eligible  for  it  (law  of  1526);  also  a  very  wise  precautionary 


TREATMENT   OF  INDIANS  7 

only  to  the  extent  of  preventing  him  from  abusing  his  sub- 
jects by  means  of  white  corregidores,  or  protectors,  who  were 
entrusted  at  the  same  time  with  the  collection  of  the  revenue.1 
Offences  against  an  Indian  were  to  be  avenged  more  severely 
than  if  they  affected  a  Spaniard  (law  of  1593).  The  Indians 
did  not  pay  the  oppressive  tax  of  the  alcavala;  they  were  easily 
released  from  their  direct  tribute  also. 

The  church  treated  the  Indians  with  very  exceptional  mild- 
ness. The  Inquisition  never  had  to  do  with  the  Indians.  Any 
heresies  were  to  be  tried  before  the  bishops'  courts  (law  of  1575), 
but  there  were  never  really  any  prosecutions.  Because  the  Indians 
thought  a  great  deal  of  their  long  hair,  contrary  to  the  Pauline 
injunction,  they  were  not  compelled  to  cut  it  off  before  baptism 
(law  of  1581).  As  for  confession,  church  penances,  feast-days, 
the  hearing  of  mass  and  fasts,  in  short  almost  every  church  require- 
ment, they  were  treated  with  an  indulgence  which  would  have  been 
quite  impossible  towards  the  Spaniards  themselves.  All  this  was 
"on  account  of  their  ignorance  and  their  weak  minds."  An. 
Indian  could  marry  his  godmother  notwithstanding  the  parentela 
spiritualise  when  necessary  even  the  eating  of  human  flesh  by 
him  was  overlooked.2  As  late  as  Humboldt's  time  the  laws  of 
Isabella  and  Charles  V  were  still  in  existence — laws  which  declared 
the  Indians  minors  for  life,  so  that,  for  example,  they  might  not, 
on  their  own  responsibility,  contract  debts  of  over  five  dollars. 
"No  pueden  tratar  y  contratar."  Neither  their  real  estate  nor 
their  personal  effects  could  be  sold  except  in  due  legal  form  (law 
of  1571),  and  the  law  gave  its  consent  then  only  when  it  found  the 
trade  advantageous  to  the  Indian.3 

The  Spanish.  Policy  in  Theory  and  in  Practice. — The  humane- 
ness of  this  policy  no  one  will  fail  to  appreciate.4    While  the 

1  Recopilacion,  VI,  7. 

2  Montenegro,  Itinerario  de  Parochos  de  Indios,  IV,  5,  9,    No.  8;    compare 
Depons,  I,  330  ff.     Cortes  with  a  shrewd  tolerance  availed  himself  of  the  legend 
of  King  Quitzalcoatl,  who  had  gone  off  to  the  East,  and  of  the  Aztec  eagle  which 
was  identified  with  the  dove  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

3  But  on  the  other  hand  it  was  required  that  in  criminal  cases  guilt  could  be 
pronounced  only  on  the  agreeing  testimony  of  six  Indians  because  of  their  great 
and  universally  prevailing  lack  of  truthfulness. 

4  Compare  Depons,  I,  321  ff.     Even  Merivale,  Lectures  on  Colonization  and 


THE  SPANISH  COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

colonies  of  other  European  peoples  regularly  caused  the  extirpa- 
tion of  the  barbarous  natives  wherever  they  encountered  them,1 
the  Spaniards  succeeded  not  merely  in  preserving  them  but  also 
in  converting  and  civilizing  them,  besides  fusing  with  them  into 
strong  mixed  races.  It  is  true  the  Spaniards  in  America  com- 
mitted outrages,  like  those  of  unrestrained  soldiers  in  every  war,2 
but  only  so  long  as  the  conquistadores  remained  independent 
of  the  power  of  the  state  which  had  contributed  little  to  the  con- 
quest. A  certain  restraint  over  the  colonists  as  well  as  over  natives 
was  essential  to  that  beneficent  purpose — a  firm  interposition, 
and  separation  of  the  two  antagonistic  elements  by  the  state. 
Every  colonizing  nation  that  desires  to  treat  the  aborigines 
humanely  may  learn  a  great  deal  here  from  the  Spanish  policy; 
for  example,  the  English  in  regard  to  their  policy  in  New  Zealand 
and  towards  the  Kaffirs.  To  be  sure  humanity  was  perhaps  not 
the  only  motive  of  the  Spanish  government.  The  principle  of 
Divide  et  impera  came  into  play,  and  in  the  Spanish  colonial 
administration,  especially,  played  an  important  part.  Colonists 
and  aborigines  were  to  check  each  other.  Therefore  the  whole 
system  of  treating  the  Indians  as  wards  was  designed  manifestly 

Colonies,  London,  1842  (II,  Lect.  18),  is  obliged  to  demand  the  appointment  of 
protectors  for  the  natives,  who  thus  stand  immediately  under  the  authority  of 
the  motherland,  as  an  essential  obligation  in  every  colony.  Conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity also  seems  to  him  the  indispensable  previous  condition  of  all  civilization; 
and  for  very  barbarous  primitive  people  he  considers  the  Spanish  system  of  hold- 
ing them  as  minors  as  appropriate  in  order  to  prevent  a  contract  for  service  be- 
coming a  form  of  slavery.  On  the  other  hand  he  condemns  the  separation  of 
the  natives  from  the  colonists;  the  highest  aim  should  be  the  amalgamation  of 
the  two  races.  For  agricultural  colonies  I  agree  with  this  fully.  In  Spanish 
America,  however,  circumstances  made  such  amalgamation  impossible.  The 
temperate  tablelands  were  at  first  too  thickly  populated;  the  hot  lowlands  were 
much  too  unhealthy  for  hard-working  Europeans  to  permit  of  a  very  considerable 
emigration  from  the  motherland.  Really  in  that  case  a  mingling  would  have 
consisted  only  in  a  degeneration  of  the  Europeans. 

1  Hence  such  distinguished  authorities  as  Poppig  (article    on  Indians  in  the 
Encyclopaedia  of  Ersch  and  Gruber)  and  Darwin  speak  of  an  inexplicable  neces- 
sity of  nature  which  caused  the  barbarous  races  to  succumb  before  the  settlements 
of  highly  civilized  men  in  their  neighborhood.      That  the  fact  to  which  they  refer 
is  to  be  otherwise  explained  has  been  shown  by  Merivale,  II,  206  ff. 

2  Compare  the  famous  work  of  Las  Casas,  Relation  de  la  Destruycion  de  las 
Indias,   1552.     [In  English  in  many  forms;    cf.  Winsor,  Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist, 
of  Am.,  II,  333-342. — B.] 


THE  SPANISH  POLICY  IN   THEORY  AND  IN  PRACTICE         9 

for  permanence.  Had  the  wards  ever  sought  to  attain  maturity 
and  real  independence,  for  which  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  they 
were  fitted,  the  Spanish  system  would  have  obstructed  them  at 
every  step.  And  yet  it  is  the  chief  object  of  education  to  make 
itself  finally  no  longer  necessary.  How  difficult  the  legal  inca-  ( 
pacity  of  the  Indians  in  regard  to  borrowing  must  have  rendered 
every  industry!  Their  own  caziques,  more  than  anything  else, 
contributed  to  keep  them  in  dependence  and  ignorance.  Laws  v 
were  necessary  to  prevent  caziquesTrom  treatmglESFsubjects  as 
slaves.1  In  short,  whoever  considers  the  enormous  extent  and 
the  thin  population  of  all  the  Spanish  colonies,  the  rapid  succession 
of  viceroys,  their  great  distance  from  the  superior  administrative 
authorities  in  Europe,  etc.,  cannot  doubt  but  that  in  practice  the 
treatment  of  the  Indians  was  by  no  means  always  in  accord  with 
the  beneficent  purpose  of  the  laws.  For  example,  it  was  repeatedly 
forbidden  to  convert  the  Indians  to  Christianity  by  force  (law  / 
of  1523,  1618),  and  yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  quite  customary  / 
for  missionaries,  whenever  slaves  (foitos]  seemed  necessary,  at 
the  head  of  their  soldiers  and  converted  Indians  (Indios  reducidos) 
to  make  inroads  upon  the  territory  of  the  heathen  in  order  to 
seize  young  people  there  (entrada,  conquista  de  almas).'2'  Hum- 
boldt  also  asserts  that,  among  other  things,  the  undoubted  improve- 
ment of  introducing  camels  to  take  the  place  of  men  as  freight- 
carriers  was  hindered  by  the  encomenderos,  who  feared  it  would 
endanger  their  feudal  rights.3  Just  think  of  the  enormous  size 
of  so  many  ecomiendas !  When  in  Peru  the  kingdom  was  rudely 
overthrown  by  Gasca,  single  officers  received  as  reward  estates 
which  paid  a  yearly  income  of  150,000  or  200,000  pesos.4  The 

1  Recopilacion,   VI,    2,   3.     Compare  especially  the  remarkable  memorial  of 
the  bishop  of  Mechoacan  in  1799,  in  Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  I,  149  ff. 

2  Compare  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  II,  274,  400,  471. 

3  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  II,  93;    compare  Recopilacion,  VI,  12,  9  ff. 
The  principal  work,  for  an  understanding  of  these  dark  sides  of  the  Spanish  colonial 
system,  is- that  by  Antonio  de  Ulloa  and  Jorge  Juan,  Noticias  Secretas  de  America, 
a  secret  report  of  these  well-known  travellers,  to  Ferdinand  VI,  which  was  printed 
in  London  in  1826. 

4Gomara,  Hist.  General  de  las  Indias,  cap.  164;  Vega,  II,  6,  3.  According  to 
Herrera  (Decad.,  VII,  6,  3)  the  estates  of  Gonzalo  Pizarro  were  more  lucrative 
than  those  of  the  bishop  of  Toledo. 


lo  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

mayorazgo  [entailed  estate]  of  the  Oaxaca  valley  (Cortes)  in 
Humboldt's  time  consisted  of  four  cities,  forty-nine  villages,  and 
17,700  inhabitants;  its  income,  in  Cortes' s  time,1  was  valued  at 
sixty  thousand  ducats  annually.2 

Support  given  the  Crown  by  the  Church. — What  supported  the 
crown  in  its  policy  toward  the  Indians  more  than  anything  else 
was  the  influence  of  the  church,  which  in  Spanish  America  was 
not  less  important  than  in  the  motherland.3  Hence  in  the  Recopil 

1Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  II,  166;  Prescott,  III,  286. 

2  The  Spaniards  have  always  had  the  reputation  of  treating  their  negroes 
very  mildly,  and  Adam  Smith  suggested  as  the  explanation  of  this  phenomenon 
the  despotic  authority  of  their  rulers.  But  there  were  still  other  grounds. 
Because  of  the  slight  interest  which  Spaniards  had  in  plantation  colonies,  their 
need  of  negro  slaves  was  small;  so  all  the  severe  measures  of  security  were  omitted 
— measures  which  were  ordered  elsewhere  because  of  the  great  number  of  blacks. 
Humboldt  estimates  the  whole  number  of  negroes  in  the  Spanish-American  main- 
land for  1822  as  387,000,  that  is,  a  little  more  than  a  fifth  of  those  in  Brazil  and 
not  nearly  so  many  as  there  were  in  the  single  state  of  Virginia  (R.  H.,  Ill,  338) 
In  the  province  of  Caracas  alone  there  were  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  218,400  negroes  (Depons,  I,  241),  so  that  there  were  very  few  in  the  chief 
colonies.  Because  of  the  great  repulsion  between  negroes  and  Indians,  the  in- 
troduction of  the  former  could  serve  as  a  means  of  safety  for  the  Spanish  rule. 
In  general  the  slaves  were  not  overworked  for  the  same  reasons  that  kept  their 
masters  from  overwork.  In  some  respects,  on  the  contrary,  the  English  or  even 
the  French  slaves  were  much  better  off,  for  as  to  dress,  food,  and  care  in  sickness 
the  Spaniard  took  very  little  care  of  his  slaves.  On  the  other  hand,  however 
he  used  extraordinary  care  for  their  instruction  in  Christianity,  and  their  public 
worship,  etc.  Unmarried  negresses  were  usually  shut  up  at  night  (Depons,  op- 
cit.}.  While  most  of  the  other  systems  of  legislation  made  emancipation  as  dif- 
ficult as  possible,  it  was  very  easy  in  Spain,  and,  especially  by  means  of  a  will,  quite 
customary  (Humboldt,  Cuba,  I,  147).  For  the  slightest  abuse — blows  from 
which  any  blood  flowed  were  absolutely  forbidden — the  master  could  be  forced 
to  sell  his  slaves  and  even  at  the  cost  price,  which,  moreover,  was  never  reckoned 
higher  than  300  pesos,  or  in  case  the  slave  was  already  worn  out  the  price  was 
fixed  by  one  of  the  judges  at  a  very  low  figure.  For  this  reason  among  others 
travellers  were  often  begged  by  blacks  on  the  street  to  buy  them  (Humboldt, 
ibid.,  I,  326  ff.).  The  slave  could  acquire  property,  moreover,  and  if  he  wished 
to  buy  his  own  freedom  with  it,  or  that  of  his  wife  and  child  under  stated  con- 
ditions, then  the  master  had  to  allow  it.  In  every  province  there  was  a  special 
officer  appointed,  who  was  to  protect  the  slaves  in  their  rights.  To  what  extent 
this  mildness  was  consonant  with  the  old  Spanish  system  and  its  former  weakness 
one  may  see  from  the  fact  that  in  later  times,  since  the  economic  improvement 
of  Cuba  has  begun,  the  slaves  there  have  been  treated  with  the  greatest  harsh- 
ness. Compare  R.  R.  Madden,  The  Island  of  Cuba,  London,  1849. 

8  In  the  colonies,  as  well  as  at  home,  for  example,  it  was  customary  to  measure 


LAS  CASAS'S  PLAN  OF  COLONIZATION  II 

acton,  I,  7,  where  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  bishops  are  treated, 
almost  a  third  relates  to  their  protection  of  the  Indians.  The 
cross  was  again  to  heal  the  wounds  made  by  the  sword. 

We  must  remember  the  close  union  which  existed  in  the  mother- 
land  between  the  throne  and  the  altar.  Because  no  monarch  of 
the  world  was  esteemed  so  Catholic  as  the  Spanish,  so  none  had 
such  a  power  over  his  country's  church  with  the  permission  of  the 
pope.  Absolutism  in  Spain  rested  preferably  upon  spiritual 
foundations ;  upon  the  right  of  patronage  of  the  king  over  bishops ; 
upon  his  grand-mastership  of  the  religious  orders  of  knights ;  and 
finally  upon  the  Inquisition.  This  influence  was  even  much  greater 
in  America,  a  papal  donation.  No  priest  could  go  to  AmericaV, 
without  the  express  permission  of  the  king  (law  of  1522  and  later)uJ/ 
The  ecclesiastical  patronage  of  the  whole  of  the  Indies  belonged^ 
eJEchisrvely  to  the  crown ;  ^Ey  it  ail  bishops^were  nominated  to  the 
pope,  and  all  canons  to  Hie  prelates  (law  of  iSoS).1  Again,  no 
papal  bull  could  extend  to  America  except  by  permission  of  the 
council  of  the  Indies.2  One  of  the  most  important  prerogatives 
was  the  royal  sale  of  indulgences",  similarly  the  annates  flowecJ 
not  into  the  papal  but  into  the  royal  treasury.3  _.  X 

Las  Casas's  Plan  of  Colonization. — The  plan  of  colonization  of 
the  celebrated  Las  Casas  at  Cumana  is  especially  noteworthy;  to  be 
sure,  it  was  a  failure,  on  the  whole,  but  it  is  an  instructive  example 
of  later  missions,  such  as  that  of  the  Jesuits  in  Paraguay  (1520). 
Las  Casas  would  take  with  him  only  farmers,  laborers,  and  priests. 
No  soldier,  particularly  no  Spanish  soldier,  was  to  go  without  his 
permission.  The  settlers  themselves  were  to  wear  a  peculiar 
uniform,  and  the  whole  enterprise  was  aimed  at  the  conversion  of 
the  natives.  Las  Casas  promised  to  convert  ten  thousand  Indians 
in  two  years,  and  to  pay  the  king  fifteen  thousand  ducats  annu- 
ally, and  after  the  expiration  of  ten  years  sixty  thousand.4 

Missions. — With  few  and  insignificant  exceptions,  missionary 

the  importance  of  a  town,  not  by  the  number  of  its  inhabitants,  but  according 
to  the  number  of  its  cloisters  and  churches:   Depons,  II,  148. 
^    l  Recopilacion,   I,    6. 

2  Ibid.,  I,  9;  Herrera,  I,  6,  19  ff. 
*    s  Recopilacion,  I,  17,  20. 
4  Herrera,  II,  4,  i- 


12  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

enterprises  did  not  really  succeed  until  after  the  end  of  the  period 
of  conquest,  that  is,  until  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.1 
Many  missions  were  founded  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  even;  for  example,. the  fine  series  which  embraced  upper 
California,  between  1772  and  1784.  Soon  after  their  first  estab- 
lishment, they  usually  cost  the  state  nothing.  The  interior  of  such 
a  mission  has  been  very  graphically  "described  by  Humboldt  and 
Duflot  de  Mofras.2  The  cabins  were  quite  uniform  and  the 
streets  straight  and  at  right  angles,  all  reminding  one  of  the 
colonies  of  the  Moravian  Brethren.  In  addition  to  the  labor 
performed  on  his  own  land,  every  adult  Indian  was  required  to 
work  on  the  common  land  one  hour  every  morning  and  evening 
(conuco  de  la  comunidad) ;  the  produce  of  this  labor  was  devoted, 
first,  under  the  direction  of  the  priest,  to  the  church  and  service 
of  God,  and  then  a  proportion  was  also  applied  to  the  needs  of 
the  Indians  themselves.  Near  the  coast  the  principal  products 
were  sugar,  indigo,  and  hemp.  In  an  open  space  in  the  centre  of 
the  mission  was  situated  the  church,  school,  the  house  of  the 
missionaries,  and  the  so-called  Casa  del  Rey,  a  convenient  inn  for 
the  free  shelter  of  travellers.  Scattered  about  the  surrounding 
region  for  thirty  or  forty  square  leagues  were  perhaps  fifteen  or 
twenty  isolated  leased  haciendas,  generally  devoted  to  cattle- 
raising;  here  and  there,  too,  were  solitary  branch  chapels. 

Military  Defence  of  Missions. — The  so-called  presidios  were 
intended  to  serve  as  the  military  defence  for  a  whole  series  of 
missions;  these  were  small  forts  with  an  armament  of  perhaps 
eight  guns  and  some  seventy  men  who  rode  excellently  (each  one 
having  seven  horses)  and  were  dressed  in  leather  (companias  de 
la  cuera).  From  four  to  six  of  these  soldiers  were  assigned  to 
each  mission,  as  well  for  its  protection  as  for  the  purpose  of  for- 
warding despatches.  The  support  which  had  to  be  provided 

1  A  distinction  should  be  made  between  the  curas  who  labored  in  Spanish 
places,  the  doctrineros  who  lived  with  the  converted  Indians,  and  the  misioneros 
sent  to  the  barbarians.     For  the  actual  work  of  conversion  they  have  always 
used  monks  only,  who,  Cortes,  for  example,  declared,  were  alone  useful  for  such 
work.     Relac.,  IV,  in  Lorenzana,  391. 

2  Humboldt,    Relation   Historique,    I,    373.     Duflot   de   Mofras,   Exploration 
du  Territoire  de  I'Or/gon,  des  Californies  et  de  la  Mer  Vermeille  (1844),  I,  ch.  7. 


MISSIONARY   ENTERPRISE  13 

for  the  presidios  by  the  missions  was  afterwards  made  good  to 
the  latter  by  the  government. 

Missionary  Enterprise.— The  life  of  the  Indians  was  regulated 
by  the  missionaries  in  every  respect.  For  instance,  on  the  Orinoco 
the  inexhaustible  stores  of  turtles'  eggs  were  earlier  exploited  very 
irregularly,  and  perhaps,  occasionally,  most  of  them  trampled 
upon.  The  Indians  were  greatly  indebted  to  the  missionaries 
in  this  matter  and  especially  to  the  Jesuits,  who  always  left  remain- 
ing a  nucleus  of  eggs,  while  their  successors,  the  Franciscans, 
gave  less  attention  to  such  permanent  exploitation.1  The  num- 
ber of  inhabitants  of  a  mission  near  the  sea  amounted  to  perhaps 
eight  hundred  to  two  thousand  souls;  farther  inland,  often  to  only 
a  little  over  two  hundred.  The  finest  mission  of  New  California, 
St.  Gabriel  the  Archangel,  numbered  almost  three  thousand 
Indians  in  1834,  and  possessed  one  hundred  and  five  thousand 
head  of  horned  cattle,  twenty  thousand  horses,  and  over  forty 
thousand  sheep ;  they  harvested  annually  twenty  thousand  fane- 
gas  2  of  corn,  five  hundred  barrels  of  wine,  and  as  much  brandy.3 
Humboldt  calls  these  settlements  "etats  intermediaires "  between 
the  real  colony  and  the  wilderness  (I,  461).  They  were  always 
somewhat  like  camps;  I  recall  only  the  circumstance  that  they 
could  be  broken  up  and  moved  at  every  whim  of  the  missionary 
who,  perhaps,  found  the  region  unhealthful. 4  Of  the  forcible 
"entradas"  I  have  already  spoken  above;  they  were  especially 
favored  by  the  Jesuits,  less  so  by  the  Franciscans.5  "El  ecco  de 
la  polvora,"  says  a  Jesuit  in  the  Lettres  Edifiantes,  must  first 
sound  if  the  knowledge  of  the  cross  is  to  find  entrance. 

Missionary  Seclusion. — One  chief  aim  of  the  monks  was  always 
directed  towards  the  keeping  of  their  true  flocks  from  all  inter- 
course with  strangers  and  enlightened  people,  the  so-called  gente 
de  razon.  This  was  a  point  where  the  above-mentioned  pro- 
hibitory laws,  sharply  separating  the  Indians  and  whites,  were 

1  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  II,  245. 

2  A  Spanish  dry  measure  varying  from  one  to  two  bushels. — TR. 

3  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  II,  393.     Duflot  de  Mofras,  I,  350. 

4  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  I,  403.      In  spite  of  the  legal  prohibition, 
Recopilacion,  VI,  3,   13. 

6  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  II,  274. 


14  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

really  observed.  Even  children  of  soldiers  were  forbidden  in 
the  settlements.1  The  famous  hospitality  of  the  missionaries 
was  intimately  connected  with  their  aim  to  superintend  the  inter- 
course of  travellers  and  compel  them  to  go  on  as  soon  as  possible. 
Usually  one  was  allowed  but  a  single  night's  lodging.  Peddlers 
thought  they  noticed  an  intention  to  discourage  them  from  coming 
again  by  the  use  of  every  sort  of  chicanery.2  The  missionary, 
who  did  not  disdain  to  trade  himself,  was  to  fo'rm  the  only  con- 
nection between  his  mission  and  the  outside  world.  That  this 
must  have  led  to  much  friction  with  the  secular  authorities  is  self- 
evident;  the  Spanish  government  followed  a  pretty  variable 
course  in  the  matter,  now  on  one  side  and  now  on  the  other.3 
Indeed  the  great  remoteness  of  so  many  missions,  perhaps,  occa- 
sionally invited  a  good  deal  of  insubordination  against  their 
spiritual  lords,  of  which  Humboldt  relates  a  remarkable  instance.4 
Character  of  the  Missionaries. — The  missionaries  were  strictly 
forbidden  to  accept  from  their  spiritual  children  any  perquisites 
whatever  beyond  their  pretty  niggardly  salary.  Unfortunately 
they  got  around  this  prohibition  quite  frequently,  since  they  sold 
pictures  of  the  saints,  rosaries,  and  the  like,  and  in  so  doing  only 
too  often  increased  their  sales  by  misusing  their  spiritual  power.5 
That  Humboldt 6  praises  the  administration  of  missions  in  general 
is  not  absolutely  a  denial  of  such  abuses.  A  man  like  Poppig, 
wholly  removed  from  every  hierarchical  or  Catholic  bias,  but 
possessing  clear  insight  and  a  strong  love  of  truth,  praises  "that 
remarkable  spirit  which,  far  removed  from  fanaticism,  made  the 
priests  ready  to  endure  the  greatest  hardships  with  almost  inde- 
scribable resignation;  that  silent  and  pious  enthusiasm,  the  work 
of  which  the  traveller  of  to-day  sees  only  in  ruins,  but  in  ruins 
which  fill  the  beholder  with  respect  for  the  exiled  builders." 

1  Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  II,   239. 

2  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  II,  327. 
8  Ibid.,  especially  II,  623  ff. 

*Ibid.,  II,  544- 

8  Depons,  II,  136  ff.  The  dark  side  of  the  Spanish  mission  system  is  most 
glaringly  pictured  in  Forbes,  A  History  of  Upper  and  Lower  California,  London, 
1831;  Beechey,  Narrative  o}  a  Voyage  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  London,  1831. 

c  Walton  %£istorique,  1,  413. 


THE  JESUIT   MISSIONS  IN  PARAGUAY  15 

Experience  teaches  that  barbarous  peoples  who  are  unable  to 
maintain  their  complete  independence  are  most  gently  subjected 
by  a  strong  church.  Hence  the  popes,  for  instance,  repeatedly 
demanded  that  the  converted  Prussians  be  treated  humanely, 
at  all  events  not  wojrse  than  they  were  accustomed  to  in  their 
pagan  condition.  What  shepherd  would  not  interest  himself 
for  his  flock  which  is  obedient  to  him  with  body  and  soul  for  this 
life  and  for  that  to  come  ?  Similar  phenomena  repeat  themselves 
continually.  Thus,  for  example,  on  the  Cape,  the  Boers  con- 
ceived the  greatest  hatred  for  the  missionaries  who  tried  to  pro- 
tect the  natives.1  It  is  very  well  known  that  in  the  English 
Antilles  the  cause  of  the  negroes  against  the  planters  is  strongly 
supported  by  the  Baptist  missionaries. 

The  Jesuit  Missions  in  Paraguay. — The  conquest  by  the  sword 
and  the  cross  which  established  the  Spanish  colonial  system  was 
continued  on  a  small  scale  by  the  missions  and  presidios  for 
centuries  after  the  end  of  the  period  of  the  conquista  properly 
so  called.  The  most  noteworthy  example  of  this  is,  undoubtedly, 
the  Jesuit  mission  in  Paraguay  (after  1609),  where  the  above- 
described  principles  had  the  most  extensive  and  intensive  develop- 
ment.2 In  every  mission  the  Indians  chose  their  own  gobernador, 
although,  naturally,  subject  to  the  veto  of  the  priest,  to  whom, 
likewise,  all  judicial  punishments  of  the  gobernador  had  to  be 
submitted  for  sanction.  These  punishments  had  altogether  the 
character  of  church  penances.  Usually  the  affairs  of  the  mission 
were  divided  between  two  monks;  the  elder  had  the  spiritual 
oversight,  the  younger  the  secular  economic  control.  With  great 
shrewdness  the  Indians  were  formed  into  military  companies 
and,  by  the  means  of  splendid  uniforms  and  titles  and  such  like, 
became  a  well-organized  machine.  All  foreign  necessities  were 

^prengel's  Barrow,  p.  345  ff.  [The  German  trans,  by  M.  C.  Sprengel 
of  Sir  John  Barrow's  Travels  into  the  Interior  of  Southern  Africa,  London,  1801. 

-B.] 

2  Compare  Ulloa,  Viage  a  la  America  Meridional  (2  vols.,  4to,  1748),  II, 
T,  15.  Charlevoix,  Histoire  du  Paraguay,  II  (Paris,  1757).  [Ulloa's  Voyage 
is  accessible  in  English  both  by  itself  in  various  editions  and  in  vol.  14  of 
Pinkerton's  Voyages.  Charlevoix's  Paraguay  has  also  been  translated,  London, 
1769.— B.] 


1 6  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

paid  for  by  the  sale  of  Paraguay  Jeas  which  the  order  managed 
"  because  the  Indians  are  too  timid."  Then,  too,  the  laborers 
and  such  people  worked  under  the  direction  of  the  priest,  and 
even  the  public  slaughter-house  was  managed  by  him.  Work 
on  the  conuco  l  claimed  two  days  of  every  week.  The  beginning 
and  ending  of  a  day's  work  were  regulated  by  church  ceremonies; 
likewise  the  hour  and  manner  of  meals,  dress,  and  so  on  were 
arranged  once  for  all  by  the  mission.  "The  missionaries,"  says 
Duflot  de  Mofras,  "had  solved  the  great  problem  of  making  work 
attractive.  They  had  brought  the  Indians  to  the  realization 
that,  grouped  about  the  mission,  they  were  safer  from  the  attacks 
of  hostile  tribes,  and  that  they  could  maintain  themselves  more 
comfortably  and  plentifully  from  the  light  and  varying  work  of 
the  mission  than  from  the  insecure  and  dangerous  spoil  of  the 
chase  and  of  robbery."  In  every  mission  there  was  a  specia) 
house,  called  beaterio,  where  women  of  bad  repute  were  kept 
under  control;  here  also  resorted  childless  married  women  during 
the  absence  of  their  husbands.  In  similar  cloistered  seclusion 
young  maidens  (monjas]  were  kept  until  marriageable  age. 
The  missionaries,  too,  had  charge  of  the  diversions,  combining 
with  them  instruction  in  all  kinds  of  vocal  and  instrumental 
music.  One  may  see  how  ably  the  community  of  property  which 
obtains  among  almost  all  barbarous  peoples  was  retained  here, 
and  was  freed  from  its  natural  defects  by  an  admirably  well- 
directed  "organization  of  labor."  In  many  missions,  for  example, 
in  California,  the  arrangement  of  the  mission  house  immediately 
reminds  one  of  the  phalansteries  of  Fourier.2  The  strict  exclu- 
siveness  of  the  whole  mission  was  designed  to  safeguard  the 
innocent  and  not  sufficiently  established  moral  habits  of  the 
Indians  from  contagion.3 

1  [See  above,  p.  12. — B.] 

2  Compare  Duflot  de  Mofras,  I,  126  ff. 

3  The  melancholy  decline  of  missions,  after  the  republican  governments  (in 
Mexico,  1832)    robbed  them  of  their  estates,  is  depicted  by  Duflot  de  Mofras 
in  impressive  terms.     The  majority  of  the  converted  Indians  have  been  scattered 
again,  their  laboriously  acquired  property  plundered,  and  they  themselves  become 
more  and  more  savage.     The  wild  Indians  have  again  commenced  their  raids 
upon  the   Spanish  communities,  as  the  powerful   ecclesiastico-military  frontier 
which  formerly  withstood  them  has  been  done  away  with.      At  first  they  rob 


DIFFERENT  POLICIES  OF  DIFFERENT  ORDERS  17 

Different  Policies  of  Different  Orders.— The  different  orders 
adhered  to  very  different  principles  regarding  the  missions. 
The  Dominicans  sought  to  make  proselytes  by  fire  and  sword 
and  purposely  destroyed  the  monuments  of  earlier  culture.  The 
Franciscans  attached  little  importance  to  science,  but  preached 
Christianity  with  fervent  love.  The  Jesuits,  according  to  cir- 
cumstances, pursued  sometimes  this  course,  sometimes  that,  and  v> 
did  much  for  philology,  geography,  etc.  To  take  one  example, 
surrounded  by  a  vast  variety  of  Indian  languages,  they  contrib- 
uted a  great  deal  toward  making  the  language  of  the  Incas  the 
common  language  for  South  America.1 

Population  of  Spanish  America — Emigration  Laws. — As  for 
the  population  of  Spanish  America,  it  is  in  accordance  with  the 
nature  of  conquest  colonies  that  immigration  from  the  mother 
country,  which  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  anything  but  over- 
populated,  could  never  be  numerous.  About  1546  there  were  in 
Peru  upwards  of  6,000  Spaniards;2  four  years  later  there  are 
said  to  have  been  in  all  the  New  World  only  i5,ooo.3  From  the 
time  of  Charles  V  no  Spaniard  was  permitted  to  go  to  America 
without  the  express  permission  of  the  crown,  and  this  was  usually  ^ 
given  for  only  a  stated  time,  perhaps  two  years/j  Whoever  sought 
this  permission  had  not  merely  to  furnish  a  sufficient  reason, 
but  present  in  addition  satisfactory  proofs  regarding  his  morals 
and  especially  that  neither  he  nor  his  ancestors  for  two  generations 
had  been  punished  by  the  Inquisition  (law  of  1518).  The  per- 
mission was  also  usually  limited  to  a  certain  province,  and  the 
journey  thence  had  to  be  very  direct  (law  of  1566  and  often). 
Even  Creoles  who  had  been  in  Europe,  perhaps  for  their  educa-  \f 
tion,  required  the  same  official  permission  to  return  (law  of  1589). 
Every  shipmaster  had  to  make  declaration  on  oath  that  he  had 

the  Creoles  of  their  horses,  as  a  result  of  which  they  are  unable  to  pursue  them, 
then  of  their  remaining  cattle,  and,  at  last,  of  their  women. 

1  Wappaus,  Mittel-  und  Sudamerika,  37  ff.     Compare  Tschudi,  Peru,  II,  352. 
[English  trans,  by  Thomasina  Ross,  London,   1847.— B.] 

2  Herrera,  VIII,  3,  i. 

8  Benzoni,  III,  21.  Yet  in  his  Historia  General  de  las  Indias,  C.  162,  Gomara 
speaks  of  there  being  20,000  Spanish  families  in  Mexico  a  few  years  after  its  con- 
quest by  Cortes. 

4  Recopilacion,  IX,  26. 


1 8  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

no  unlicensed  person  on  board.1  Depons  (I,  p.  185)  actually 
estimates  the  number  of  those  who  annually  emigrated  from 
Spain  to  the  Captaincy-General  of  Caracas,  as  100  at  the  most. 
The  majority  remained  a  lifetime,  because  a  similar  license  was 
required  for  the  return  from  America  (law  of  1570,  1612);  only 
the  restless  Catalonians  and  Basques  felt  homesick. 
4-  Composition  and  Distribution. — When  Humboldt  was  in 
America  there  were  in  general  for  every  100  inhabitants:  in  the 
United  States,  83  whites;  in  New  Spain  (excluding  the  so-called 
interior  provinces),  16;  in  Peru,  12;  in  Jamaica,  10;  and  in  the 
city  of  Mexico,  51.  In  New  Spain,  where,  proportionately, 
there  was  the  largest  European  element,  there  were  1,200,000 
whites,  of  whom,  at  the  highest  estimate,  70,000  or  80,000  were 
native-born  Spaniards,  almost  2,500,000  Indians,  and  probably 
as  many  mestizos  and  some  negroes.2  Later  the  same  writer 
tabulates  the  population  of  Spanish  America  as  follows : 3 

Indians.  Whites.  Negroes.  Mestizos. 

In  Mexico 3,700,000  1,230,000 

In  Guatemala 880,000  280,000 

In  Colombia 720,000  642,000 

In  Peru  and  Chile 1,030,000  465,000 


In  Buenos  Ayres 1,200,000  320,000  „ 


1,860,000 
420,000 

387,000  1,256,000 

853,000 
742,000 


In  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  339,000  389,000  197,000 


7,530,000  3,276,000  776,000  5,328,000 

The  thorough  investigations  of  Wappaus,  which  comprised 
r"the  years  1860  to  1870,  give  for  Mexico  at  least  three-fifths  pure 
L  Indians  and  about  an  eighth  pure  whites.  In  Central  America? 
according  to  Squier  and  Scherzer,  there  are  perhaps  about  5  per 
cent,  whites,  i  per  cent,  negroes,  almost  38  per  cent,  mixed,  and 
fully  56  per  cent.  Indians.  In  Panama,  according  to  M.  Wag- 
ner, there  are  5.5  per  cent,  whites,  12.7  per  cent,  negroes,  mulat- 
toes,  and  zambos,  7.2  per  cent,  pure  Indians,  and  the  remain- 
der mestizos.  In  New  Granada  there  are  probably  16.6  per  cent, 
whites;  in  Venezuela  27.5  per  cent,  pure  whites,  23.3  per  cent, 
pure  Indians,  5.2  per  cent,  pure  blacks,  the  remainder  mixed 
races ;  in  Ecuador,  at  the  most,  8  per  cent,  of  whites  and  at  least 

1  First  ordered  by  Chas.  V;    Recopilacion,  IX,  35,  20. 

2  Humboldt,    Neuspanien,  I,  165. 

3  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  III,  339. 


POPULATION  19 

50  per  cent,  of  pure  Indians.  In  Peru,  according  to  Miller, 
there  are  14  per  cent,  whites,  57  per  cent.  Indians,  22  per  cent, 
mestizos,  7  per  cent,  negroes  and  mixtures  of  negro  blood.1  Just 
like  the  Spaniards,  the  Spanish  Creoles  have  an  extraordinary 
love  for  city  life ;  a  landlord,  there,  thinks  he  does  very  well  if  he 
makes  one  journey  of  recreation  in  a  year  to  his  possessions, 
without  the  least  business  motive.2  Hence  the  white  population'; 
is  to  be  found  only  in  the  cities  for  the  most  part,  and  hardly  at  all  i\ 
in  the  country.  In  Lima,  one  hundred  and  forty  years  ago,  there 
were  from  16,000  to  18,000  whites;  in  Mexico,  in  1790,  some- 
thing like  50,000  Creoles  and  2,300  peninsular  Spaniards.3  The 
government  seems  to  have  especially  feared  the  rise  of  a  Creole 
peasantry.  For  this  reason  it  held  the  more  firmly  to  great 
entailed  estates  the  more  distant  the  province.  In  Chile  the 
only  exception  allowed  was  on  the  frontier.  Here  Poppig  found 
the  sturdiest  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  warlike  population,4 
as  was  strikingly  illustrated  during  the  recent  war  with  Peru  and 
Bolivia.5  This  unmistakable  superiority  of  Chile  over  all  the 
rest  of  the  Spanish-American  world,  which  appears  also  in  other 
fields,  as,  for  example,  statistics,  public  education,  road-building, 
and  particularly  political  freedom  and  order,  may  be  due  partly 
to  the  temperate  climate  of  the  country.  The  basis  of  it,  how- 
ever, is  undoubtedly  the  ethnological  preponderance  of  the  whites 
themselves,  who,  according  to  Wappaus,6  apparently  form  the 
majority,  besides  the  fact  that  the  white  race  already  predomi- 
nates among  the  mestizos  and  always  will  do  so  to  an  increasing 
degree. 

Class  Distinctions.— That  conquest  colonies  naturally  tend  to 
divide  the  people  into  castes  has  been  observed  elsewhere.7 
In  Spanish  America  this  caste  distinction  on  account  of  race  and 
color  was  necessarily  much  sharper.  The  names  chapetons 

1  Wappaus,  op.  cit.,  especially  30,  243,  379,  407,  547>  6°3>  695- 

2Depons,  II,  313. 

3Ulloa,  Viage,  II,  i,  55   Humboldt  Relation  Historique,  I,  573. 

4  Poppig,  Reise,  I,   108  ff. 

5  Compare  Diego  Barros  Arana,  Histoire  de  la  Guerre  du    Pwfique,  1879- 
1880,  II,  1881. 

6  Op.  citn  774  ff. 

7  Roscher's  Kolonien,  etc.,  6. 


20  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

(gachupins),  Creoles,  mestizos,  mulattoes,  tercerons,  quadroons, 
zamboSj.  and  so  on  are  quite  well  known.  Marriage  between 
the  different  degrees  of  color  is  considered  a  mesalliance  and 
parents  may  prohibit  it  without  further  formality.  It  was  the 
A  Spanish  policy  to  encourage  these  class  distinctions  as  much 
as  possible,  -  because  it  was  rightly  recognized  as  a  chief  means 
of  making  the  dependence  of  the  colonies  on  the  mother  country 
lasting.  Each  caste  was  extremely  envious  of  the  higher  and 
correspondingly  disdainful  of  the  lower  ones.  This  prevented 
any  general  union  to  shake  off  the  common  yoke;  for  the  lowest 
class,  which,  to  be  sure,  by  a  general  uprising  could  only  have 
gained,  was  extremely  apathetic  and  at  bottom  revered  the  Spanish 
^  state  and  the  church  as  protectors  from  the  oppressors  who 
were  nearest  and  of  whom  they  were  most  sensible.1  Legally  the 
Creole  was  on  complete  equality  with  the  chapeton;  but,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  until  1637  only  twelve  of  the  three  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  bishops  had  been  Creoles,  and  until  1808  only  one  of 
fifty  viceroys  of  New  Spain  had  been  a  Creole.2  Wappaus  knew 
of  only  four  Creoles  among  one  hundred  and  sixty  viceroys,  and 
only  fourteen  among  six  hundred  and  two  captains-general  or 
governors.3  To  the  excluded  this  must  have  been  all  the  more 
irritating,  since  they  had  in  their  midst  a  numerous  and  brilliant 
nobility  4  and  since  the  preference  of  those  born  in  the  mother 
country  was  frequently  due  to  the  opinion  that  the  whites  quickly 
degenerated  in  the  tropics.  How  often  must  the  Creole  blood 
have  boiled  at  that!  Yet  to  accomplish  their  plans  they  had  first 
\  of  all  to  arm  the  mestizos,  Indians,  etc.,  and  in  a  measure  incor- 
porate them  with  themselves;  but  the  latter  they  disdained  even 

1  Hence  even  to-day  in  most  of  those  countries  the  aristocratic  and  priestly 
party  is  allied  with  the  colored  people. 

2  Robertson,  History  of  America,  II,    500.     Humboldt,  Neuspanien,    II,  82. 

3  Wappaus,  Republiken  von  Sudamerika,  I,  1 1 

4  In  Lima  from  one-quarter  to  one-third  of  the  whites  were  of  noble  blood,  and 
among  them  were  forty-five  families  of  marquises  and  counts;  one  of  these  sprung, 
on  the  female  side,  from  the  old  Incas  (Ulloa,  Viage,  II,  i,  15).     Moreover,  there 
were  in  every  colony  two  kinds  of  nobility:   families  whose  ancestors  at  first  for 
a  short  time  had  held  high  office  and  whose  prominence  was  derived  rather  from 
old  Spain;  and  those  who  descended  from  the  conquistadores  (Humboldt,  R.  Hn 
I,  592). 


NATURAL  ANTIPATHIES  21 

more  than  they  hated  the  gachupins.  Likewise  the  aversion 
between  mulattoes  and  negroes  was  as  great  as  that  between 
whites  and  negroes.1  The  civil  position  of  every  class  depended 
mainly  and  naturally  upon  the  greater  or  less  whiteness  of  their 
complexion.  "  To  do  bianco  es  caballero"  Sometimes  even 
now  a  traveller  will  give  the  most  grievous  offence  if  he  does  not 
recognize  as  perfectly  white  and  noble  a  dark-brown  half-naked 
woodsman,  who,  for  want  of  a  hut,  can  only  fasten  a  hammock  in 
the  trees.  Humboldt  relates  some  amusing  instances  of  this. 
It  was  therefore  a  successful  device  of  Spanish  policy  to  furnish 
men  from  the  mixed  castes,  who,  owing  to  their  capacity  and 
energy,  might  be  dangerous,  with  a  patent  declaring  them  white. 
By  this  means  the  mestizos  were  deprived,  in  advance,  of  their 
natural  leaders  in  any  revolt.  Of  the  same  effect  was  the  cir- 
cumstance that  the  Indian  caziques  were  regarded  as  equal  to 
the  Spaniards;  the  Tlascalans  had  great  privileges,  for  example.2 
,  Natural  Antipathies. — There  were  also  a  great  many  apples 
of  discord  between  the  subject  population  which  must  have  facili- 
tated the  government  greatly  in  its  policy  of  Divide.  Every- 
where in  Spanish  America  there  existed  the  most  violent  antipathy 
between  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast  and  those  of  the  mountains, 
as,  for  example,  Vera  Cruz  and  Mexico ;  the  former  were  accused 
of  being  frivolous,  the  latter  of  being  slow.3  Few  countries  con- 
tain in  themselves  such  numerous  differences  in  climate  and 
mode  of  living  as  the  tierra  caliente  and  tierra  fria  in  Spanish 
America,  the  inhabitants  of  which  despise  each  other  heartily.4 
In  addition  there  were  the  same  great  provincial  distinctions 
which  mark  the  Catalonians,  the  Andalusians,  the  Basques,  and 
the  mountaineers  in  old  Spain,  and  which  they  stubbornly  pre- 
served even  in  America.5  How  very  different,  too,  the  individual 
colonies  were  from  each  other!  Not  merely  because  of  their 
immense  size  and  sparse  population,  but  also  because  almost  all 
the  means  of  connection  were  naturally  very  bad.  For  example, 

1  Poussin,  Richesse  Ame'ricaine,  II,  412.     [For  Richesse  read  Puissance.— B.] 

2  Recopilacion,  VI,  i.  39. 

8  Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  IV,  319. 

4  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  III,  30. 

6  Ibid.,  especially  I,  568. 


22  THE   SPANISH   COLONIAL   SYSTEM 

the  voyage  between  Peru  and  Mexico  is  so  difficult,  on  account 
of  the  winds  and  currents,  that  it  is  considered  the  most  tedious 
and  irksome  of  the  whole  world.1  We  are  told  that  while  the 
Spaniards,  in  order  to  impede  the  intercourse  by  land  between 
the  provinces,  had  left  isolated  Indian  races  on  the  intervening 
frontiers  intentionally  unconquered,  Indians  speaking  a  different 
language  intruded  between  the  old  settled  places.2  The  excellent 
postal  communication  which  Count  Florida  Blanca  established 
from  Buenos  Ayres  to  California  was  considered  by  many  men 
of  the  good  old  stamp  as  a  highly  dangerous  innovation.3  Dis- 
cord was  disseminated  within  every  social  circle.  The  tremen- 
dous pride  and  stiff  ceremonialism  which  characterize  the  Spaniards 
in  Spain  had  developed  here  incomparably  more,  so  that  all  cor- 
diality was  smothered  beneath  it,  and,  more  than  that,  numberless 
family  quarrels,  denunciations,  etc.,  resulted  from  it.4 

Aristocratic  Ideas  in  Spanish  America, — I  have  shown  in 
another  place  that  the  principle  of  Divide  et  impera  is  the  lead- 
ing idea  of  every  aristocratic  system.5  Aristocracy  rules  its  sub- 
jects particularly  by  separating  the  people  into  a  multitude  of 
small  and  very  exclusive  cliques,  every  clique  with  special  privi- 
leges. Its  chief  aid  in  accomplishing  this  object  is  a  close  union 
with  the  church,  and  in  material  affairs  a  very  mild  treatment  of 
the  lowest  classes.  It  might  seem  strange  that,  in  a  perfectly 
unlimited  monarchy  such  as  that  of  Spanish  America,  so  many 
aristocratic  principles  are  met  with.  But  in  every  state  based  on 
caste,  be  the  form  of  government  what  it  may,  the  basis  of  all 
political  life  is  always  aristocratic.  Moreover,  the  government 
itself,  if  the  king  resides  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean  and  never 

1  Compare  Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  IV,  330  ff.     Ulloa  relates  a  popular  anec- 
dote of  a  ship-captain  who  married  a  wife  in  Payta,  but  before  he  arrived  in  Callao 
had  a  son  who  was  able  to  read;  and  the  distance  covered  amounted  only  to  140 
leagues  (Viage,  II,  2,  i). 

2  Ausland,  1844,  No.  243.     Reise  der  Novara,  III,  372.     [Eng.  tr.    London, 
1861-1863.— B.] 

3  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  I,  573. 
4Depons,  I,  189,  216. 

6  In  my  Umrissen  zur  Naturlehre  der  drei  Staatsformen  (second  essay:  "Aris- 
tokratie")  which  was  published  in  the  Berliner  allgemeine  Zeitschrift  fur  Ge- 
schichte  in  1847. 


ARISTOCRATIC   IDEAS   IN   SPANISH   AMERICA  23 

makes  even  the  most  hasty  pleasure-trip  to  the  country,  must 
inevitably  assume  a  strong  aristocratic  color.  Spanish  America""^ 
is  classic  ground  for  the  so-called  official  aristocracy.  I  mean 
by  that  that  independent  bureaucracy  which  existed  in  almost 
all  the  absolute  monarchies  from  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  to 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  which  was  really  the 
only  bulwark  against  arbitrary  despotism  for  a  long  time  after 
the  decline  of  the  old  provincial  representative  institutions.  The 
French  Parlements  furnish  the  best-known  example.  It  was 
the  period  oj  office-buying  .and  fee-paying ;  which  generally  pro- 
moted incapacity,  indolence,  and  avarice  among  officials,  but 
which  also  maintained  their  independence  of  superiors.  At 
that  time  the  collegiate  *  system  still  prevailed  with  its  imperfect 
division  of  labor  and  gradations  of  jurisdiction  and  appeals,  its 
slowness,  pedantry,  and  weakness,  but  also  with  its  consideration 
and  paternal  clemency.  The  often  very  absurd  red-tape  con- 
nected  with  that  system  ought  always  to  be  regarded  as  a  measure 
of  safety  against  arbitrary  power,  and  the  class  exclusiveness  and 
arrogance  of  the  numerous  officials  as  a  help  to  independence 
against  temptation.  This  official  system,  with  its  good  and  bad 
features,  had  taken  very  early  and  deep  root  in  Spain.  It  was 
closely  connected  with  the  temper  of  the  people  as  depicted 
above.  Many  of  the  political  elements  of  weakness  from  which 
we  Germans  have  suffered  so  much — the  large  number  of  pedants 
and  the  excessive  number  of  legal  documents,  secretiveness  in 
public  service,  mania  for  rank  and  title,  etiquette,2  slow  old  ways, 
litigiousness — all  that  sort  of  thing  is  even  more  widely  developed 
among  the  Spaniards,  and  especially  in  America. 

The  Viceroys. — At  first  the  viceroys  possessed  the  entire  royal 
authority. 3  In  course  of  time  their  authority  was  by  degrees 
restricted  so  that  districts  lying  at  a  distance  were  raised,  one 
after  another,  to  a  separate  and  independent  captaincy-general. 
The  ceremonial  maintained  by  the  viceroys  was  pompous  in 

1  [Collegiate  in  the  sense  in  which  College  is  used  in  Electoral  College. — B.] 

2  One  may  compare  the  long  section  "  de  las  precedences,  ceremonias  y  cor- 
tesias  ":  Recopilacion,  III,  15. 

3  Recopilacion,  III,  3. 


24  THE   SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

the  extreme.  They  were  served  by  pages,  and  every  time  they 
went  out  they  were  attended  by  their  own  guard  on  horseback.1 
In  their  palace  they  could  eat  only  with  their  families,  so  they 
could  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  good-fellowship  only  when  travelling 
through  the  country.  However,  like  every  ceremonial,  this  one 
was  also  an  important  restraint.  It  prevented  the  viceroy  from 
becoming  too  firmly  established  in  his  province,  an  event  which, 
in  the  case  of  very  distantly  situated  officials,  is  always  a  chief 
danger  to  the  government.  For  that  reason  they  never  permitted 
them  to  remain  in  their  offices  very  long — not  over  seven  years  at 
the  most;  and  seldom  were  persons  of  very  distinguished  rank 
selected.  An  important  check  was  also  imposed  by  the  so-called 
visit  as  which  were  instituted  from  time  to  time  in  the  colonies,2 
but  which  seldom  resulted  in  the  immediate  relief  of  the  subjects. 
In  addition  every  high  official  in  the  colonies,  especially  the  vice- 
roy, was  subject,  after  retirement  from  his  office,  to  a  process 
known  as  the  residential  The*  Council  of  the  Indies  appointed 
for  this  a  particularly  prominent  jurist,  who  had  to  be  ready  for 
months  to  receive  charges  of  every  kind  against  the  outgoing 
official.  The  justice  of  these  charges  was  decided  in  Spain,  and 
no  viceroy  or  other  officer  could  receive  the  slightest  new  appoint- 
ment without  first  successfully  meeting  this  test.  The  well-nigh 
proverbial  ingratitude  of  the  Spanish  court  towards  its  great 
discoverers  and  conquerors  is  at  bottom  nothing  more  than  the 
painful  introduction  of  the  later  colonial  policy  of  permitting  no 
one  to  become  too  powerful.4 

Audiencias. — Associated  with  the  governors  were  the  audien- 
cias.5 

1  One  may  find  a  brilliant  description  of  the  reception  which  was  accorded 
the  new  viceroy  of  Peru  in  Ulloa,  Viage,  II,  i,  4.     Something  like  it,  only  in  less 
degree,  was  repeated  every  time  the  viceroy  was  to  preside  in  person  at  the  audien- 
cia.     Also  in  the  case  of  captains-general.     See  Depons,  II,  20. 

2  Recopilacion,  II,  34. 

3  Ibid.,  V,  15.     Even  Cortes  had  to  put  up  with  such  a  juez  de  residencia. 

4  The  personal  un worthiness  of  the  first  minister  of  the  Indies,  Fonseca,  does 
not  admit  of  question;  compare  Washington  Irving,  Life  and  Voyages  o]  Colum- 
bus, append.,  32. 

5  Recopilacion,  II,  15  ff.     An  audiencia  was  associated  with  Cortes  first  in 
1527,  as  the  court  recognized  the  impossibility  of  controlling  so  great  a  hero  by 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  THE  INDIES  25 

Properly  speaking  these  were  courts  of  appeal,  but  at  the  same 
time  they  were  also  to  constitute  a  sort  of  council  of  state  for  all 
the  more  important  and  extraordinary  affairs  with  a  great  restrain- 
ing power  over  the  governor.  The  audiencia  could  correspond 
with  the  king  directly  and  without  the  knowledge  of  the  governor 
(law  of  1620);  to  it  the  Spanish  government  turned  when  special 
information  was  needed  regarding  the  conduct  of  the  governor. 
The  commands  of  the  audiencia  were  regarded  as  if  they  emanated 
from  the  king  himself  (law  of  1530).  But  this  circumstance  was 
not  to  lessen  the  respect  due  the  governor  from  the  subjects  nor 
affect  the  necessary  unity  of  the  supreme  authority ;  for  this  reason 
the  viceroys  or  captains-general  formally  presided  over  the  audien- 
cias,  and  the  latter,  like  the  old  French  Parlements,  could  oppose 
a  definite  command  of  its  president  only  by  representations, 
reports,  and  the  like  to  Spain.  In  case  of  vacancies,  the  audiencia 
acted  in  place  of  the  governor  (law  of  1600).  Generally  the 
members,  because  of  their  high  rank  and  good  salary,  were  placed 
in  an  independent  position.  To  preserve  their  impartiality  they 
had  to  lead  a  life  withdrawn  from  the  world;  they  could  neither 
borrow  nor  loan  on  interest ;  they  could  acquire  no  landed  property, 
or  keep  more  than  four  slaves;  they  could  make  no  marriage 
alliance  in  their  jurisdiction,  nor  serve  as  godparent  or  act  in  any 
similar  capacity.1 

The  Council  of  the  Indies. — The  supreme  authority  for  all 
American  affairs  was  vested  in  the  celebrated  Council  of  the  In- 
dies, founded  in  1511  and  finally  organized  in  1542. 2  This  board 
originally  embodied  all  financial,  police,  military,  ecclesiastical, 
and  commercial  authority,  and  at  the  same  time  served  as  the 
high  court  of  appeal  in  all  civil  actions  of  over  6,000  piastres. 
Endowed  with  the  entire  royal  prerogative,  it  had,  at  all  times, 
to  remain  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  court.  New  laws  could 
be  passed  only  by  a  majority  of  at  least  two-thirds.  For  a  cen- 
tury the  Council  of  the  Indies  was  universally  and  deservedly 
held  in  the  greatest  esteem.  Its  members  were  chosen  prefer- 

means  of  a  single,  and  perhaps  insignificant,  man.     Compare  Herrera,  Decad.,  IV, 
21,  3,  8;   Prescott,  Conquest  of  Mexico,  III,  234. 

1  Recopilacion,  II,  16,  38  ff. 

3  Ibid.,  II,  2-15. 


26  THE   SPANISH   COLONIAL   SYSTEM 

ably  from  those  who  had  held  high  offices  in  America  with  distinc- 
tion.1 Only  by  means  of  such  a  body  was  made  possible  that 
firm  adherence  to  proved  principle,  that  uninterrupted  and  at 
the  same  time  mild  activity,  "  without  haste  but  also  without 
rest,"  upon  which  the  Spanish  dominion  preferably  depended.2 

Fondness  for  Titles  and  Rank. — I  have  before  described  the 
litigiousness  and  the  multiplicity  of  legal  documents,  which  are 
unfortunately  the  usual  accompaniments  of  the  conditions 
described.  Depons  (II,  63  ff.)  was  able  to  make  the  paradoxical 
statement  that  the  whole  population  of  Spanish  America  was 
divided  into  two  classes;  those  who  ruined  themselves  by  law- 

1  Depons,  II,  13  ff. 

2  This  well  organized  and  truly  Spanish  system  of  Indian  administration  was 
undermined  much  more  by  the  ideas  of  centralization  of  the  eighteenth  century 
which  mounted  the  throne  of  Spain  with  the  Bourbon  dynasty  than  by  foreign 
enemies.     Of  how  little  advantage  centralization  could  be  when  the  centre  was 
over  five  thousand  miles  distant  across  the  sea  and  every  naval  war  completely 
broke  the  connection,  the  reader  may  judge  for  himself.     For  example,  the  crown 
insisted  over  against  the  viceroy  on  always  exercising  its  right  of  appointment  to 
all  offices.     On  the  other  hand  the  audiencias  were  degraded;    in  case  the  office 
of  governor  fell  vacant  they  were  not  to  supply  his  place  any  more,  but  the  officer 
of  next  lower  grade  (law  of  1800).     At  the  same  time  the  influence  of  the  gov- 
ernor as  presiding  officer  was  considerably  increased  by  requiring  from  him  an 
official  report  each  year  of  all  cases  that  had  been  tried  or  postponed  under  the 
pretext  of  expediting  business  (law  of  1802).     Compare  Depons,  II,  32,  37.     The 
municipal  liberties  also  of  the  so-called  Cabildos,  which  in  the  time  of  Philip  II 
had  been  granted  so  willingly,  were  always  more  jealously  restricted  rather  than 
granted   to   new   districts   (Humboldt,    Relation  Historiqite,   II,  52).     In   Spain, 
even,  the  Council  of  the  Indies  had  to  put  up  with  the  bureaucratic  authority 
of  the  department  ministers.     First  came  the  creation  of  a  Ministry  of  the  Indies, 
which  naturally  was  in  everlasting  conflict  with  the  Council  of  the  Indies.     For 
that  reason,  in  the  time  of  Charles  III,  the  presidency  of  the  latter  was  entrusted  to 
the  minister  and  so  the  importance  of  the  council  as  an  independent  body  was  prac- 
tically destroyed.     Charles  IV,  to  be  sure,  re-established  this  venerable  collegiate 
body  outwardly,  and  the  Indian  ministry  was  divided  among  five  department  min- 
isters of  war,  navy,  finance,  foreign  affairs,  justice  and  pardons.     (Bourgoing,  Ta- 
bleau de  I'Espagne,  I,  186  [Eng.  trans.,  London,  1789].)      But  this  only  aggravated 
the  evil,  since  the  good  results  of  the  bureaucratic  system  were  lost  without  re- 
gaining those  of  the  collegiate    system.      No  special  officer  in  America  could 
execute  a  command  which  had  not  reached  him  from  his  special  minister.     Cases 
occurred  where  the  war  minister  ordered  certain  fortifications  most  urgently, 
but  where  nothing  was  done  because  the  finance  minister  neglected  to  allot  the 
sums  for  payment  of  the  same  (Depons,  II,  16).     How  long  could  such  a  condition 
of  affairs  last? 


SECRECY  IN  STATE  AFFAIRS  27 

suits  and  those  who  enriched  themselves  by  the  same  means,  or 
at  least  made  their  living  by  those  means.  In  the  single  city  of 
Caracas  there  were  600  judges,  lawyers,  and  clerks  in  a  population 
of  31,000  in  all.  Closely  associated  with  this  is  the  inordinate 
fondness  for  titles  and  rank  which  characterized  the  Creoles. 
"  There  is  no  person  of  distinction  who  does  not  pretend  to  be  a 
military  officer,  yet  without  having  any  of  the  preliminary  and 
indispensable  training  for  that  noble  occupation.  There  is  no  one, 
white  or  almost  white,  who  does  not  intend  to  be  a  lawyer,  priest, 
or  monk ;  those  who  are  unable  to  give  such  wing  to  their  preten- 
sions aim,  at  least,  at  being  notaries,  secretaries,  clerks  of  church 
sacristans,  or  attaches  of  some  religious  community,  such  as  lay 
brothers,  pupils,  or  foundlings.  Thus  the  fields  lie  deserted  and 
their  fertility  is  proof  of  our  inactivity.  Cultivation  of  the  soil  is 
despised.  Every  one  wants  to  be  a  gentleman  or  live  in  idleness." 
Very  frequently  militia  colonels  in  uniform  and  decorated  with 
orders  could  be  seen  behind  the  shop-counter.2  Every  man  of 
rank  was  accustomed  to  maintain  an  agent  in  Madrid  authorized 
to  seek  titles,  orders,  etc.,  for  his  employer  at  every  opportunity 
that  offered  itself.  Such  an  apoderado,  naturally,  took  no  step 
without  being  paid  for  it,  and  besides  the  authorities  had  to  see 
ready  money  for  every  mark  of  favor.  Innumerable  persons  fell 
deeply  in  debt  in  this  way.3  One  may  see  in  this  a  device  of  the 
Spanish  court  for  keeping  the  Creoles  under  their  thumbs,  as 
efficacious  as  it  was  cheap. 

Secrecy  in  State  Affairs. — A  consequence  in  part  of  this 
overweening  estimation  of  the  green  table,  and  in  part,  too,  of 
the  aristocratic,  despotic  methods  of  the  government  in  general, 
was  the  profound  secrecy  with  which  all  state  affairs  were  veiled. 
The  excellent  Robertson,  in  1777,  had  to  derive  his  knowledge 
of  Peruvian  finances  from  a  manuscript  of  1614.  The  revenues 

*Dr.  Sanz,  in  Depons,  I,  186. 

2Humboldt,   Neuspanien,  V,  39. 

3  Depons,  II,  314  ff.  Much  more  salutary  was  the  idea  of  Charles  IV,  who 
established  at  Madrid  a  company  of  his  body  guard  out  of  Creole  nobles  in  order 
to  bring  together  and  fuse  the  two  halves  of  his  empire  and  to  have  hostages  in 
the  event  of  a  colonial  uprising.  Unfortunately  Ferdinand  VII  did  away  with 
this  organization.  Duflot  de  Mofras,  I,  4. 


28  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

of  Mexico  he  estimates  at  only  4,000,000  piastres,  although  at 
that  time  they  amounted  to  over  15, 000,000. *  Thus  it  was  made 
a  matter  of  serious  reproach  to  Count  Revillagigedo,  and  espe- 
cially in  America,  that  he  made  public  the  census  of  the  popu- 
lation in  New  Spain  and  so  brought  to  every  one's  knowledge 
the  small  number  of  peninsular  Spaniards  there.2 

Restriction  of  Foreign  Intercourse. — A  state  which  conceals 
within  itself  numerous  and  important  conflicting  elements,  and 
can  remain  master  of  them  only  by  means  of  a  very  skilful  govern- 
mental machinery,  will  always  be  inclined  to  restrict  as  much 
as  pbssible  the  intercourse  of  its  own  people  with  foreigners. 
This  is  especially  so  with  all  despotic  and  aristocratic  states, 
as  soon  as  they  have  passed  beyond  the  stage  of  merely  natural 
development.  I  call  to  mind,  for  example,  ancient  Egypt  and 
Lacedemonia,  in  modern  times  China  and  Japan,  and  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  Russia  and  Austria  before  1848.  Spanish  America, 
for  reasons  easy  to  understand,  especially  developed  this  system  of 
isolation.  It  was,  at  the  beginning,  an  exceedingly  natural  feel- 
ing which  sought  to  keep  all  non- Spaniards  away  from  America. 
All  Europe,  at  that  time,  looked  upon  America  as  a  sort  of  Castle 
of  Indolence,  the  enjoyment  of  which  by  the  Spaniards  every- 
body envied.  The  Spanish  possessions  were  much  too  exten- 
sive, much  too  thinly  populated,  and  much  too  distant  from 
the  mother  country  to  be  easily  defended  at  all  points  by  mere 
physical  means.  Therefore  they  fell  back  upon  immaterial 
means  of  defence.  All  intercourse  with  foreigners,  without  ex- 
press permission,  was  forbidden  on  penalty  of  death  and  confis- 
cation.3 Until  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Spaniards 

1  Compare  Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  V,  9. 

2  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  I,  573.     In  the  colonies  people  were  very 
much  more  concerned  about  such  matters  than  in  the  mother  country.     Thus, 
for  example,  Humboldt,  when  he  neared  the  frontiers  of  Brazil,  ran  the  greatest 
danger  of  being  arrested  by  the  authorities  there  as  a  person  dangerous  to  the 
state  and  sent  to  Europe,  which  the  Portuguese  government  itself  would  only 
have  regretted.     Ibid.,  II,  476. 

3  Recopilacion,  IX,  27,  i,  4,  7  ff.     These  laws  date  back  to  Philip  II.     Earlier 
English  traders  were  not  uncommonly  met  with  in  the  Canary  Islands.     Hack- 
luyt,  Voyages,  III,  447,  454. 


RESTRICTION  "FAVORED  BY  NATURE  29 

treated  the  entry  of  any  foreign  ship  into  American  waters  as 
a  crime.  Shipmasters  who  were  stranded  on  their  shores  were 
frequently  executed  or  sent  to  the  Mexican  mines  for  life.  Even 
as  late  as  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  so-called  coast- 
guards were  not  ashamed  of  similar  outrages.1  When  the  French 
tried  to  make  a  settlement  in  Florida  between  1564  and  1567 
they  were  nearly  all  killed  by  the  Spaniards.2  It  ought  not  to 
be  forgotten  that,  until  the  loss  of  the  Invincible  Armada,  Spain 
was  generally  considered  the  first  sea-power  and,  until  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  even  more  generally  as  the  first  land  power  of  the 
world.  Even  the  valor  of  individual  Spaniards  was  very  greatly 
feared.  Foreigners  could  really  never  hope  to  obtain  permis- 
sion to  make  an  actual  settlement  during  the  period  when  the 
Spanish  colonial  power  was  in  its  prime.  It  was  not  until 
toward  the  end  that  the  unconditional  prohibition  was  replaced 
by  a  high  tax.  But  even  then  the  earlier  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment was  only  too  firmly  fixed  in  the  habits  of  the  people.  Every 
foreigner  was  looked  upon  as  a  heretic,  and,  unless  he  disarmed 
the  national  prejudice  by  an  extraordinary  friendliness,  had  to 
fear  daily  charges  of  blasphemy,  etc.,  witnesses  of  which  were 
never  wanting.3 

Such  Restriction  Favored  by  Nature.  —  Moreover,  in  the 
Spanish  colonies  nature  herself  remarkably  favored  such  an 
almost  Chinese  exclusiveness.  Besides  Vera  Cruz  and  Cam- 
peche,  the  immense  eastern  coast  of  New  Spain  contains  prac- 
tically no  harbors.  Even  these  are  only  moderately  good,  and 
in  addition  they  are  completely  commanded  strategically  from 
Havana.  The  kingdom  of  New  Granada  was  connected  with 
the  sea  only  by  the  harbors  of  S.  Marta  and  Cartagena  and 
by  a  rushing  stream.  The  Gulf  of  Mexico  is  difficult  to  navi- 
gate throughout  the  year  because  of  the  prevailing  winds.4  In  all 
the  provinces  which  formerly  were  of  particular  importance  the 
coast  regions  are  almost  uninhabited,  in  Peru  because  of  the 

1  Examples  are  given  in  B.  Edwards,  History  of  the  British  West  Indies,  I,  140  ff. 

2  Anderson,  Origin  of  Commerce,  II,  under  the  year  1565. 
8  Depons,  I,  184. 

4Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  I,  569. 


30  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

» 

lack  of  rain,1  in  New  Spain  and  New  Granada  because  of 
their  heat  and  unhealthfulness.  The  population  is  concen- 
trated inland  on  the  tablelands,  and  is  accessible  from  the  coast 
only  by  means  of  very  steep  and  tiresome  mountain  roads.  The 
yellow  fever,  too,  which  threatens  every  foreigner  on  the  coast, 
is  an  especially  formidable  means  of  defence,  and  perhaps  more 
efficacious  than  the  Chinese  wall.2  The  government  sought  to 
develop  these  natural  conditions  to  the  utmost,  or  at  least  to 
preserve  them.  For  example,  the  chief  city  of  Guiana  was  not 
allowed  to  be  founded  at  the  mouth  of  the  magnificent  river 
Orinoco,  but  eighty-five  leagues  back  from  the  sea,  for  the  sake  of 
better  defence ;  and  the  region  between  was  to  contain  no  impor- 
tant place.3  For  the  same  reason  the  very  bad  road  from  Caracas 
to  the  harbor  of  Laguayra  was  never  improved.4  Thus  is  ex- 
plained the  indifference  with  which  Charles  III  scorned  every 
plan  for  cutting  through  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.5  But  the 
best  bulwark  for  the  whole  west  coast  was  its  remote  situation 
in  the  Antipodes  of  Europe.  "As  a  matter  of  fact,  as  soon  as 
the  Spanish  colonies  became  known  foreigners  began  to  intrigue 
to  make  them  revolt  against  the  mother  country. " 6  Those 
Spanish  provinces  which  by  their  situation  were  more  accessible 
to  intercourse  with  the  outside  world,  like  Caracas  and  the  regions 
of  the  Orinoco  and  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  were  always  very  much 

1  According  to  Tschudi,  the  Peruvian  sand  deserts  are  440  leagues  long  (3° 
35'  to  21°  48'  S.  B.),  but  only  three  to  twenty  leagues  wide. 

2  Compare  Humboldt,   Relation  Historique,   I,   550;    also  Neuspanien,   IV, 
376  ff. 

8  Humboldt,  Relation  Historique,  II,  643. 
4Depons,  II,   72. 

5  Bourgoing,  II.  256  ff.     The  Spanish  Cortes  ordered  the  cutting  through  of 
the  isthmus  in  1814.     In  this  connection  the  difference  between  the  enthusiastic 
enterprise  of  Charles  V's  time,  when  the  Spanish  colonial  empire  was  won,  and 
the  conservative  constructive  period  of  Philip  II,  is  very  remarkable.     Charles  V  in 
1523  had  ordered  Cortes  to  search  the  coasts  of  New  Spain  for  the  "discovery 
of  the  secret"  for  which  in  1524  Cortes  fitted  out  five  expeditions  at  the  same 
time.     Pizarro  wanted  a  Panama  canal  for  political  reasons.     On  the  other  hand 
Philip  II,  who  at  the  beginning  cherished  similar  ideas,  later  forbade  even  the 
mere  mention  of  such  a  canal  (v.  Scherzer,  Oesterreich.  Zeitschr.  /.  d.  Orient^ 
1883,  No.  9). 

6  Duflot  de  Mofras. 


ECCLESIASTICAL  CENSORSHIP  31 

neglected  by  the  mother  country.  Another  important  reason 
for  this  was  the  circumstance  that  Spanish  colonization  aimed 
at  conquest,  but  that  here  the  natives  had  previously  not  been 
used  to  work.  Caracas  with  its  splendid  coast  was  in  many  re- 
spects an  exception  to  the  Spanish  rule.  There  towards  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century  the  cultured  youth  studied  French 
and  English,  and  the  old  Castilian  costume  gave  place  more 
and  more  to  the  new  French  styles.1  It  was  there  and  in  Buenos 
Ayres  that  the  revolt  from  the  mother  country  began. 

Ecclesiastical  Censorship. — In  the  ecclesiastical  realm  the 
Spanish  system  of  isolation  expressed  itself  particularly  by  a 
rigorous  censorship.  The  great  roles  which  Philip  II  and  Alba 
played  in  the  general  history  of  censorship  is  known.  In  America 
this  tendency  developed  more  freely.  The  entire  control  of  the 
press  was  given  into  the  hands  of  the  Inquisition,  and  the  pre- 
scriptions for  its  exercise  as  they  are  collected  in  the  Recopilacion,  I, 
24,  and  Depons,  II,  95  ff.,  are  a  real  masterpiece  in  the  bad 
sense  of  the  word.  A  few  lines  will  suffice  for  its  characterization. 
For  example,  every  bookseller  had  to  have  always  on  hand  in 
his  shop  a  catalogue  of  all  prohibited  books,  under  penalty  of 
forty  ducats.  He  had  to  hand  in,  annually,  a  catalogue  of  his 
stock  with  the  declaration  upon  oath  that  he  had  nothing  else. 
Whoever,  even  for  the  first  time,  sold  a  prohibited  book  was 
suspended  from  his  business  for  two  years,  banished  for  the  same 
length  of  time  from  his  place  of  residence,  and  sentenced  to  pay 
a  fine  of  200  ducats.  A  traveller  who,  in  crossing  the  frontier 
even,  concealed  a  book  brought  with  him  suffered  a  fine  of  200 
ducats.  The  commissaries  of  the  Inquisition  might  enter  private 
houses  even,  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night,  for  prohibited  books 
or  other  similar  articles. 

Spanish  Commercial  Policy. — The  Spanish  commercial  policy 
had  the  same  end  in  view.  Humboldt  calls  attention  to  the 
remarkable  phenomenon  that  Mexican  trade  often  flourished 
more  in  time  of  war  than  in  time  of  peace,  when  the  Spanish 
revenue  ships  could  operate  unhindered.  Even  in  the  years 
1820-1822  Basil  Hall  was  able  to  show  the  most  surprising  con- 

1  Depons,  I,  196  ff. 


32  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL   SYSTEM 

trast  between  Lima,  which  still  remained  Spanish,  and  Valparaiso, 
which  had  thrown  off  Spanish  rule.  Here  the  harbor  was  full 
of  ships,  the  warehouses  full  of  goods;  there  was  a  large  number 
of  bookstores  and  travellers;  no  pass  was  necessary;  nothing 
but  modern  European  costumes  were  worn.  In  Lima  the  con- 
tiary  was  the  case  in  everything;  the  custom  house  was  empty 
and  closed,  the  streets  were  deserted;  the  ships  at  Callao  were  in 
a  corner  of  the  harbor,  close  under  the  fort,  surrounded  by  gun- 
boats and  closed  in  with  a  boom.1  Wherever,  subsequently, 
Spaniards  reconquered,  they  threw  all  foreign  merchants,  Ameri- 
cans, Englishmen,  and  all,  into  the  most  horrible  dungeons,  such 
as  the  Morillo  in  Cartagena.2 

Management  of  American  Trade.  —  For  the  management  of 
the  American  trade,  the  Casa  de  Contratacior  3  was  established 
at  Seville  in  1503;  a  body  at  once  administrative  and  judicial 
which  soon  became  subordinated  to  the  Council  of  the  Indies. 
Charles  V  associated  with  this  Casa  lectures  and  instruction  in 
nautical  subjects;  and  the  whole  institution  was,  in  his  time,  con- 
sidered so  excellent  that,  among  others,  Henry  VIII  speedily  pat- 
terned one  after  it  as  closely  as  possible  for  his  own  realm.4  No 
ship  was  permitted  to  sail  from  Spain  to  America,  or  land  from 
there,  until  it  had  been  inspected  by  the  officers  of  the  Casa  and 
had  received  a  license.  Of  everything  a  most  careful  register  was 
kept.5  Charles  V  had  ordered,  on  pain  of  death  and  confiscation, 
that  every  Spaniard,  embark  where  he  would,  must  direct  his  jour- 
ney back  from  America  only  to  Seville  ;  and  soon  the  journey  out 
was  only  permissible  from  Seville.  In  particular  all  gold  and  silver, 
all  pearls  and  precious  stones  could  be  brought  only  to  Seville.8 
This  preference  for  Seville  camer  from  the  fact  that  it  was  the  only 
large  place  in  the  kingdom  of  Castile  which  could  carry  on  ocean 

1  B.  Hall,  Journal  Written  on  the  Coasts  of  Chili,  etc.,  I,  87  ff. 

2  Ibid.,  I,  239  ff.     Compare  Robertson,.  Letters  on  South  America    II,  73  ff. 


3  Recopilacion,  IX,  i  ff. 

4  Anderson,  II,  under  the  year  1512. 

6  Recopilacion,  IX,  33-35.     The  officers  of  the  ship  had  to  swear  that  they 
would  take  no  unregistered  goods  with  them:    IX,  15,  8. 
6  Recopilacion,  IX,   i,  56. 


MANAGEMENT   OF   AMERICAN  TRADE  33 

commerce  and  at  the  same  time  had  a  considerable  river  trade. 
Then,  again,  since  the  kingdom  of  Castile  alone  had  borne  the 
expense  and  dangers  of  the  discovery  of  America,  it  wanted  to 
have  all  the  profit  of  it.1  After  1720  Cadiz  took  the  place  of 
Seville,  because  the  Guadalquivir  had  grown  so  shallow  that  large 
ships  could  no  longer  navigate  so  far.2 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  control  and,  in  times  of  danger,  the 
convoy  of  ships,  all  trade  was  limited  to  two  regular  fleets.  The 
galleons,  consisting  generally  of  twenty-seven  ships  destined  for 
South  America,  went  annually  to  Porto  Bello,  landing  first  in  Car- 
tagena; the  fleets  for  Central  America  went  to  Vera  Cruz  every 
three  years  and  usually  numbered  twenty-three  ships.3  The 
route  of  both  fleets  was  determined  with  the  greatest  exactness 
and  only  for  very  pressing  necessity  could  this  be  changed  or  a 
ship  leave  the  convoy.4  This  was  the  case  to  some  degree  as 
early  as  1526.  All  trade  with  Peru  and  Chile  passed  through 
Porto  Bello.  Their  exports  were  brought  by  water  in  a  similar 
fleet  to  Panama  and  then  carried  by  mules  over  the  Isthmus. 
The  exchange  took  place  at  Porto  Bello  during  a  forty  days'  fair, 
on  which  occasion  this  otherwise  quite  desolate  and  unhealthy 
place  was  for  a  time  enlivened  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  Very 

1  The  independence  of  the  provinces  of  Spain  was  so  great  in  this  respect 
that,  for  example,  the  Portuguese,  when  their  country  was  united  with  Spain, 
might  not  trade  with  the  Philippines  even  from  their  own  Moluccas  (Recopila- 
cion,  IX,  27,  29;    compare  IX,  37,  12). 

2  Cadiz   had   always   had   some   connection  with  American  trade.     Compare 
Recopilacion,  IX,  4. 

3  [This  statement  that  the  flotas  for  New  Spain  sailed  only  once  in  three  years 
is  derived  from  J.  Townsend's  Journey  through  Spain  in  the  Years  1786  and  1787, 
London,  1791,  2d  ed.,  enlarged,  1792,  II,  397,  and  is  an  error.     The  fleet  went 
annually  as  a  regular  thing.     The  law  of  1561  as  given  in  the  Recopilacion,  lib. 
IX,  tit.  XXXVI,  ley  XIII,  says:  "La  flota  que  hubiere  de  salir  para  Nueva  Espana 
este  aprestada  a  primero  de  abril  de  cada  un  ano  en  la  barra  de  Sanlucar/'etc. 
The  annual  service  became  irregular  in  the  later  eighteenth  century,  and  there 
were  only  eleven  fleets  in  the  years  1781-1800.     (Bancroft's  Mexico,  II,  752.) — B.] 

*  Recopilacion,  IX,  30  ff.:  "  Instruccion  de  Generates,"  1597.  Most  of  the 
ships  were  of  800  to  1,000  tons  burden;  the  smallest  about  550  (J.  Townsend 
Journey  through  Spain,  II,  371).  When  Peter  Hein  seized  the  galleons  in  1618, 
the  booty  is  said  to  have  been  worth  twenty  million  pounds.  (Anderson,  sub 
anno.)  Exact  specifications  of  a  cargo  of  a  Spanish  silver  fleet  and  a  corresponding 
Portuguese  one  are  given  in  Anderson,  under  the  years  1734  and  1737. 


34  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

small  booths  were  rented  for  1,000  pesos  or  more,  and  single 
houses  for  4,000  to  6,000  pesos.  The  remaining  larger  portion 
of  the  year  was  characteristically  enough  called  the  dead  time  of 
year.1  The  Spanish  and  Peruvian  merchants  appeared  at  the 
fair  as  two  regular  companies;  the  former  under  the  admiral  of 
the  galleons,  the  latter  under  the  president  of  Panama.  The 
authorized  agents  of  both  companies  meet  together  at  the  admiral's 
ship  and  fixed  the  price  at  which  every  one  could  buy  wares.  As 
soon  as  the  ships  arrived  at  Cartagena,  the  news  had  to  be  sent 
to  the  viceroy  of  Peru  at  once,  and  also  on  the  return  to  the  higher 
Spanish  authorities.  The  same  was  true  of  the  so-called  silver 
fleet  to  Vera  Cruz.  Here,  on  account  of  the  unhealthy  climate, 
the  actual  sales  took  place  in  the  nearest  healthy  city,  Jalapa. 
On  the  return  to  Europe  both  fleets  united  at  Havana. 

Monopolies  of  Shipping. — It  is  easy  to  understand  that  the 
utilizing  of  this  very  limited  opportunity  of  shipping  soon  became, 
necessarily,  practically  a  monoply  of  some  favored  commercial 
houses.  Especially  so  when  the  merchants  of  Seville  from  the 
time  of  Charles  V,  and  those  of  Mexico  and  Lima  from  the  time 
of  Philip  II,  became  privileged  corporations  with  an  elected 
prior  and  consuls  at  their  head.2 

For  example,  the  trade  with  the  silver  fleet  was  in  the  sole 
possession  of  eight  or  ten  large  Mexican  houses.3  The  Spaniards, 
in  their  trade  with  America,  often  made  100  to  300  per  cent. 
profit.4  Actually,  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Varinas  tobacco  cost,  in  Spain,  four  times,  and  in  the  rest  of  Europe 
seven  times,  as  much  as  in  America.5  "  The  .supplying  of  a  great 
kingdom,"  exclaims  Humboldt,  "was  carried  on  like  the  pro- 
visioning of  a  blockaded  fortress! "  We  see  here  in  many  respects 
a  prototype  of  the  great  commercial  companies  which,  in  England 
and  Holland  in  particular,  played  such  an  important  role  from 

1  Compare  Ulloa,  Viage,  I,  i,  9,  and  2,  6. 

2  Recopilacion,  IX,  6,  46.     These  consulados  corresponded  in  many  ways  upon 
a  small  scale  to  the  Casa  de  Contratacion. 

3  Humboidt,   Neuspanien,   IV,   352. 

4  Ulloa,  Re'tdblissement  des  Manufactures  et  du  Commerce  de  VEspagner   II, 
191. 

*  Brougham,  Colonial  Policy,  I,  421. 


EFFECT    ON  DEVELOPMENT   OF  NATIONAL  WEALTH          35 

the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  similarity  appears 
still  greater  when  one  remembers  that  the  English  East  India 
Company  first  in  1612  formed  a  real  stock  company.  Previously 
the  members  had  traded  "by  several  separate  stocks."  How- 
ever,* those  Spanish  consulados  did  not  really  receive  an  inde- 
pendent political  power;  that  would  have  been  altogether  incom- 
patible with  the  spirit  of  absolute  monarchy  and  official  aristoc- 
racy.1 Moreover,  the  government  avoided  all  communication 
with  America  outside  the  regular  channels  so  much  that  the 
court  sometimes  first  learned  of  the  most  important  occurrences 
from  foreigners.2 

Staples,  caravans,  trading  companies,  are  exactly  the  insti-  , 
tutions  which  serve  admirably  for  the  beginnings  of  trade  and  ( 
for  the  lower  stages  of  civilization;  but  Spain  tried  to  per- 
petuate them  in  her  colonies.  But  where  not  only  the  state, 
but  society  as  a  whole  is  established  upon  the  basis  of  medieval 
ideas  and  institutions — the  caste  system,  the  impossibility  of  a 
separate  nationality,  the  great  power  of  the  church — it  is  prac- 
tically impossible  to  break  away  from  them  even  in  trade.  Highly 
artificial  governments,  which  are  at  the  same  time  conscious  of 
their  weakness,  have  ever  felt  the  need  of  limiting  to  as  small  an 
amount  as  possible  trade  which  brings  peoples  together  and  which 
might  bring,  with  foreign  wares,  foreign  ideas  and  influences. 

Effect  on  Development  of  National  Wealth. — What  effect  such 
an  artificial  adherence  to  the  lower  stages  of  culture  must  have 
upon  the  development  of  national  wealth  is  self-evident.  In 
Spanish  America  this  was  aggravated  by  the  fact -that  the  mother 
country,  to  which  the  colonies  were  chained  in  all  economic 

1  Compare  Ustariz,  Teoria  y  Pratica  del  Commercio,  chs.  38,  39. 

2  Trade  with  the  Philippines  was  restricted  to  a  single  galley  which  sailed  ' 
annually  from  Manila  to  Acapulco.     Ordinarily  this  was  said  to  export  only 
half  a  million  piastres;    but  there  were  generally  one  and  one-half  to  two  mil- 
lions.    As  soon  as  the  ship  was  seen  approaching  along  the  coast,  everybody 
hastened  to  Acapulco,   where,   however,   again  individual  large  houses  bought 
up  most  of  the  cargo.     In  Manila,  besides  the  'merchants,  the  monastic  houses 
especially  took  a  share  of  it.     Compare  Recopilacion,   IX,  45;    Humboldt,  Neu- 
spanien,  IV,  331  ff .     The  great  ship  occasionally  had  1,200  men  aboard.     (Anson's 
Voyage,  330.)     The  booty,  when  one  was  taken  in  1762,  according  to  Anderson, 
amounted  to  three  million  piastres. 


36  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

matters,  was,  after  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  really 
retrograding.  For  example,  Caracas  could  not  dispose  of  its 
enormous  excess  of  hides  in  Spain,  because  she  already  received 
from  Buenos  Ayres  and  Montevideo  more  hides  than  were  needed 
and  those  of  Buenos  Ayres  were  superior  to  those  of  Caracas 
in  every  respect.1  When  the  trade  of  Seville  was  at  the  height 
of  its  prosperity  both  fleets  did  not  carry  more  than  27,500  tons, 
while,  for  example,  in  1836  the  little  island  of  Mauritius  sent 
17,690  tons  to  England  and  received  18,576  tons  from  her.2 
The  last  silver  fleet  arrived  in  1778;  previously,  the  annual  expor- 
tation from  Vera  Cruz  reached,  on  an  average,  617,000  piastres; 
after  1787,  2,840,000  piastres  annually.3  The  total  exports  to 
and  imports  from  Spanish  America  in  1778  amounted  to 
148,500,0x30  reals;  the  number  of  ships  was  about  300,  and  duties 
amounted  to  about  6,500,000  reals.  Ten  years  later  the  amount 
had  risen  to  1,104,500,000  reals  and  to  about  55,000,000  in 
duties.4  The  trade  with  Cuba,  which  in  1765  required  scarcely 
six  ships,  required  over  two  hundred  in  1778,  after  all  Spaniards 
were  allowed  to  share  in  it  by  paying  a  duty  of  six  per  cent.  From 
1765  to  1770  the  income  from  duties  at  Havana  trebled,  while 
the  exportation  from  the  whole  island  increased  fivefold.  Before 
1765  this  magnificent  island,  which  was  able  to  provide  all  Europe 
with  sugar,  did  not  have  even  enough  for  the  consumption  of 
the  mother  country.5 

Smuggling. — Naturally,  those  colonies  which  were  situated 
at  the  greatest  distance  from  the  three  large  staple  ports  suffered 
most;  for  example,  Chile,  which  had  to  have  its  whole  trade 
conducted  not  merely  through  Porto  Bello,  but  even  through 
Peru.  For  New  Spain  and  New  Granada  the  restriction  was 
not  so  great  as  appears  at  first  glance,  because  the  nature  of 
their  coast-line  made  the  harbors  of  Vera  Cruz  and  Cartagena 

1  Depons,  II,  391. 

2  Campomanes,  Educ.  Popul.,  I,  435;  II,  no;   Porter,  Progress  of  the  Nation, 
II,  177  ff.       About  1849  the  trade  between  Mauritius  and  Great  Britain  em- 
ployed more  than  65,000  tonnage. 

3  Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  IV,  352  ff. 
4Bourgoing,  II,  180  ff.     Brougham,  I,  445. 
6  Brougham,  I,   438. 


SMUGGLING  37 

the  chief  ports.  In  the  river  regions  of  the  La  Plata  and  Orinoco 
the  case  was  just  the  opposite:  everywhere  the  finest  oppor- 
tunities to  land,  but  nevertheless  a  thin  population  and  neglect 
on  the  part  of  the  Spaniards.  It  was  therefore  in  these  places  that 
the  Spanish  revenue  system  received  its  most  grievous  wounds  from 
smuggling.1  The  West  Indian  possessions  of  Holland,  as  well  as 
those  of  England  and  France,  were  smuggling  stations  on  a  very 
large  scale.2  Shortly  before  1740  the  English  alone  are  said  to 
have  had  as  much  share  in  the  Spanish  colonial  trade  in  ways  pro- 
hibited as  the  Spaniards  themselves  had  in  the  authorized  ways.3 
If  one  can  speak  of  honor  among  smugglers,  it  existed  here  in 
the  highest  degree.  Although  scarcely  five  per  cent,  of  American 
necessities  were  furnished  by  Spanish  manufacturers  themselves, 
it  is  most  remarkable  that  actually  at  no  time  did  a  Spanish 
agent  ever  betray  his  foreign  business  friend.4  The  trade  of 
Caracas  was  surrendered  to  the  company  organized  at  Guipuscoa 
in  1728,  because  the  government  could  no  longer  overcome  smug- 
gling; they  now  for  the  first  time  tried  to  appeal  to  the  private' 
interest  of  the  merchants — Caracas  produced  the  greatest  amount 
of  cocoa  in  the  world  and  Spain  consumed  the  most,  but  thej 
cocoa  trade  was  almost  exclusively  hi  the  hands  of  Dutch  smug- 
glers.5 The  company,  by  arming  its  ships,  really  succeeded  in 
exterminating  a  large  part  of  this  smuggling.  Trade  thus  man- 
aged by  a  company  is  always  very  restricted;  in  this  case  it  was, 
besides,  on  the  Spanish  side,  limited  to  the  harbors  of  San  Sebas- 
tian and  Cadiz.  But  in  comparison  with  the  earlier  Spanish 
system,  it  could  almost  be  considered  free  trade.  Caracas, 
apart  from  the  company,  had  connections  with  the  Canary  Islands 
by  a  registered  ship  and  with  Vera  Cruz  enjoyed  free  trade.6 
Within  a  short  time  the  cattle  business  of  the  colony  was  trebled, 

1  Compare  Robertson,  II,  337. 

2Depons,  II,  336. 

3  Brougham,  I,  423. 

4Zavala,  Representation  al  Rey  D.  Felipe  V.,  226.     Compare  Depons,  II, 

404  ff. 

5  In  the  sixteen  years  before  1728  not  a  single  ship  sailed  from  Caracas  to 
Spain,  and  in  twenty  years  only  five  from  Spain  to  Caracas! 

6  Robertson,  II,  413- 


38  THE   SPANISH   COLONIAL   SYSTEM 

the  cocoa  trade  doubled,  and  the  price  of  cocoa  in  the  mother 
country  fell  to  one-half  its  former  price.1 

Increasing  Difficulty  of  Maintaining  the  Spanish  Commercial 
Policy. — The  maintenance  of  the  Spanish  commercial  policy 
necessarily  became  more  difficult  the  more  the  colonial  popula- 
tion, progressing  in  numbers  and  culture,  learned  to  need 
European  wares;  the  more  foreign  nations  through  the  increase 
of  internal  competition  were  forced  to  seek  new  markets;  and 
the  less,  in  later  years,  the  Spanish  laws  were  supported  by  the 
old  terror  of  the  Spanish  arms?)  The  English  war  of  1739  against  ^ 
the  Bourbon  poweiiPperhaps  decided  for  all  time  the  question  ° 
whether,  in  the  colonial  world,  the  Germanic  or  Latin  races 
should  rule.  In  fact  almost  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  indiv- 
idual concessions;  rather  was  it  true  that  every  stone  which 
was  removed  from  the  highly  artificial  structure  had  the  inevitable 
result  of  bringing  down  another  stone.  This  happened  in  the 
course  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  new  ruling  house 
which  came  from  France  departed  from  the  old  Spanish  ways 
in  so  many  particulars.  Even  during  the  war  of  the  succession, 
because  of  the  want  of  Spanish  ships,  the  ports  of  Peru  and  Chile 
were  opened  to  the  merchants  of  St.  Malo,  but  only  until  the 
beginning  of  the  peace.  Much  more  dangerous  still  than  this 
deviation  from  the  old  rule  was  the  so-called  Assiento  Treaty 
which  was  made  with  England  in  1713;  this  provided  that  the 
English  South  Sea  Company  might  not  only  import  into  the 
Spanish  colonies  4,800  negro  slaves  annually,  but  also  send  a 
ship  of  500  tons  to  the  fair  at  Porto  Bello.  It  was  not  enough 
that  this  number  of  tons  was  very  soon  exceeded  in  manifold 
ways,2  but  in  addition  the  English  established  factories  in  the 
most  important  places.  Through  these  they  obtained  an  exact 
knowledge  of  the  tastes  and  needs  of  the  colonists,  which  had 

1  Brougham,  I,  442  ff.;   Depons,  II,  343  ff.;  Townsend,  II,  376. 

2  This  one  ship  could  import  from  five  to  six  times  as  much  as  one  of  the  Spanish 
fleet  (Townsend,  II,  372).      It  was  accompanied  by  several  other  ships  which 
lay  at  anchor  at  some  distance  and  renewed  the  cargo  of  the  first  as  soon  as  it 
was  discharged.     More  than  that,  single  vessels,  and  occasionally  whole  squad- 
rons, entered  Spanish  harbors  under  the  pretext  of  provisioning,  but  in  fact  to 
smuggle  in  English  goods.     Compare  Coxe,  Bourbon  Kings  of  Spain,  III,  300. 


BREAKDOWN   OF  THE  SPANISH   COMMERCIAL  POLICY         39 

previously  been  lacking,  and,  after  that  time,  could  extend  their 
smuggling  from  Jamaica  over  an  extraordinarily  wide  range. 
The  galleons  fell  pretty  rapidly  from  15,000  to  2,000  tons  l  (about 
1737).  After  1740  permission  was  granted  to  fit  out  so-called 
"register  ships"  in  the  intervals  from  one  fleet  to  another, 
especially  to  such  as  had  a  share  in  no  fleet.  About  1748  the 
galleons  were  entirely  given  up.  Now  one  could  sail  directly 
to  Chile  and  Peru  around  Cape  Horn.  Panama  and  Porto  Bello 
declined.  But  on  the  other  side  trade  was  still  fettered  by  the 
monopoly  of  Cadiz  and  paid  high  royal  licenses.2  Charles  III, 
in  1764,  established  monthly  mail  packet-boats  between  Corunna 
and  Havana,  and  these  were  permitted  to  transport  goods  to 
the  extent  of  half  their  cargo.  Every  two  months  a  similar 
packet-boat  went  to  Buenos  Ayres,  and  there  were  American 
post-routes  connected  with  it.  In  1765  came  the  great  advance 
that  intercourse  with  the  West  Indies  was  opened  to  all  Spaniards 
and  to  a  number  of  different  ports  under  a  duty  of  six  per  cent. 
In  1768  this  was  extended  to  Louisiana,  in  1770  to  Campeche 
and  Yucatan,  in  1778  to  Peru,  Chile,  Buenos  Ayres,  New  Granada 
and  Guatemala,  and  at  last  in  1788  to  New  Spain.  The  more 
important  a  colony  was  for  the  motherland,  the  later  was  it  re- 
solved to  open  it  to  free  trade.  Furthermore,  the  duty  on  many 
classes  of  goods  was  lowered  and  in  1774  the  previously  existing 
prohibition  of  internal  trade  between  Peru,  Guatemala,  New 
Spain,  and  New  Granada  was  removed.  Indeed,  just  as  if 
all  earlier  maxims  were  to  be  exactly  reversed,  the  American 
ports  were  now  classified  as  may  ores  and  menores;  the  former, 
naturally  the  more  important  and  better  situated,  were  burdened 
with  higher  duties,  in  order  to  equalize  by  such  means  the  natural 
disadvantages  of  the  latter.3 

Profit  of  Spain  from  the  Administration  of  her  Colonies. — 
Finally  there  remains  the  question,  what  immediate  profit  did 
Spain  get  out  of  the  administration  of  her  colonial  possessions? 

1  Campomanes,  I,  436. 

2  In  the  year  1748  for  a  brief  time  trade  was  made  free  to  all  Spanish  harbors. 
As  numerous  bankruptcies  occurred  as  a  result  at  Cadiz,  the  government  soon 
after  recalled  its  permission. 

3Depons,  II,  357. 


40  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL   SYSTEM 

I  shall  pass  over,  here,  the  advantages  of  a  purely Jdeal  nature, 
\  t     such  as  the  political  satisfaction  which  comes  from  the  control 
of  such  an  immense  territory,  the  historic  fame  which  results  from 
the  conversion,  civilizing,  and  assimilation  of  so  many  peoples. 
o      Also  the  general  advantages  from  every  great  colonization  I  must 
here  presuppose  to  be  understood.     In  distinction  from  these 
I  will  designate  what  economic  net  profit  the  government,  the 
officials,  priests,  and  knights,  and  finally  the  mercantile  and  pro- 
fessional classes  of  Spain  obtained  from  America. 

Advantage  to  the  State. — The  actual  surplus  which,  in  Hum- 
boldt's  time,1  flowed  into  the  treasury  at  Madrid  from  the  colonial 
administration  was  estimated  at  the  following  amounts:  from 
New  Spain,  from  5,000,000  to  6,000,000  piastres  annually;  from 
Peru,  1,000,000  at  the  highest;  from  Buenos  Ayres,  from  600,000 
to  700,000;  and  from  New  Granada,  from  400,000  to  500,000. 
In  the  remaining  provinces  the  expenditure  was  at  least  equal 
to  the  receipts ;  in  fact,  regular  appropriations  (situados)  of  prob- 
ably 3,500,000  had  to  be  sent  annually  to  the  Spanish  West  Indies, 
Florida,  Louisiana,  the  Philippines,  and  Chile  to  help  out  their 
domestic  administration.  From  Lima  a  contribution  of  100,000 
pesos  went  to  Santiago  and  Concepcion  every  year,  half  in  silver 
and  half  in  supplies  for  the  garrison  there.  Valdivia  received 
annually  70,000  pesos  likewise  from  Lima.2  The  supplementary 
contribution  for  San  Domingo  is  said  to  have  amounted  to  200,000 
silver  piastres  annually,  or  from  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  to  1784,  inclusive,  to  about  i7,ooo,ooo.3  Before  the 
establishment  of  the  Guipuscoa  company  two-thirds  of  the 
expenditure  of  Caracas,  Maracaibo,  and  Cumand  had  to  be  sup- 
plied from  Mexico.4  Taken  all  together  the  exports  from  Spanish 
America  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  amounted 
to  9,800,000  piastres  more  than  the  imports.  Whatever  portion 
of  this  is  not  to  be  reckoned  in  the  above-mentioned  government 
surplus  must  have  flowed  into  the  hands  of  private  individuals  in 
Spain.5 

1  Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  V,   20  ff.  3  Bourgoing,  II,  215. 

2  Ulloa,  Viage,  II,  2,  8.  4  Depons,  III,  3. 

5  Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  IV,  375. 


/ 


ADVANTAGES  TO   INDIVIDUALS  41 

Advantages  to  Individuals. — The  numerous  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical officers  in  America  were,  for  the  most  part,  very  well  paid, 
so  that  the  government  of  the  mother  country  thus  had  a  great 
many  opportunities  to  enrich  distinguished  men  or  favorites. 
The  viceroys  of  New  Spain  and  Peru  received  fixed  salaries  of 
60,000  piastres  and  those  of  New  Granada  and  Buenos  Ayres 
40,000. l  The  captain-general  of  Caracas  received  9,000  piastres 
and  almost  as  much  more  in  perquisites.2  Individual  viceroys, 
to  be  sure,  extorted  millions  in  a  few  years,  as  they  demanded 
money  for  filling  offices,  conferring  titles,  privileges  of  trade, 
and  concessions  in  connection  with  quicksilver  royalties.  But 
such  abuses  were  possible  only  in  so  far  as  they  had  a  strong 
party  on  their  side  at  Madrid.  The  intendant  of  Caracas  had 
an  annual  salary  of  9,000  silver  piastres  and  almost  as  much  more 
from  confiscations  of  smuggled  goods,  etc.  The  regent  of  the 
audiencia  at  Caracas  received  5,300  piastres  annually,  each  of 
the  three  Oidores  and  the  two  attorneys,  3,300  piastres.3 

These  advantages  to  the  state  as  well  as  to  private  individuals 
were  naturally  most  important  in  the  first  century  of  colonization. 
In  everything,  and  especially  in  political  affairs,  the  period  of 
development  is  fuller  of  spontaneous  activity  than  maturity  and 
the  standing  still  that  follows.  The  streams  of  gold  and  silver 
which  flowed  from  America  to  Spain  had  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury a  greater  effect,  because  the  value  of  the  precious  metals 
had  not  then  fallen  so  low  as  was  the  case  later.  What  an  impres- 
sion it  must  have  made,  for  example,  when  Pizarro  paid,  out  of 
the  ransom  of  the  Inca  Atahualpa,  to  every  knight  of  his  army 
8,000  pesos,  and  to  every  foot-soldier  4,000! 4  The  more  lasting 
sources  of  wealth,  trade,  and  industry  in  which  England  and 
France  so  greatly  outstripped  Spain  in  the  seventeenth  century 
were,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  not  strong  enough  to  counter- 
balance Potosi  and  Zacatecas.  Hence  I  do  not  doubt  for  a 

1Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  V,   18  ff. 

2Depons,  II,  23.     One  viceroy  alone  received  some  60,000  pesos  as  a  birth- 
day gift:    Robertson,  II,  433. 
3Depons,  III,  6;    II,  30. 
4  Robertson,  II,   179. 


42  THE  SPANISH  COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

m^i.  ?nt  that  the  treasures  of  America  essentially  promoted  the 
world-wir^  tremendous  power  of  Philip  II  not  only  in  an  imma- 
terial bu.  ilso  in  a  material  way,  although  the  fact  may  hardly 
allow  of  an  exact  estimate.1 

Industry  in  Spain. — That  Spain,  under  the  Hapsburg  dynasty, 
adhered  to  the  scientific  mercantile  system  only  lukewarmly  and 
in  an  illogical  way  is  sufficiently  well-known.  To  be  sure,  the 
exportation  of  the  precious  metals  was  hindered  as  much  as 
possible.  But  on  the  other  hand  they  strove  to  lessen  the  expor- 
tation of  commodities  as  much  as  possible  and  to  increase  their 
importation,  especially  that  of  manufactured  goods.  The  Cortes  3 
and  the  crown  agreed  that  the  prevailing  rise  in  the  price  of  all 
commodities  resulted  from  the  malice  of  the  merchants,  who 
wished  to  limit  the  quantity  of  wares  by  a  heavy  exportation. 
So,  for  example,  the  exportation  of  cattle,  leather,  and  grain  was 
forbidden.  In  1552  Charles  V  ordered  that  every  foreigner 
who  exported  raw  wool  should  import  a  certain  quantity  of  woolen 
stuffs.  Similarly  the  importation  of  silk  was  allowed,  the  expor- 
tation prohibited.  Spanish  industry  at  that  time  was  very  unim- 
portant. Philip  II  and  with  him  the  majority  of  his  people 
valued  industry  so  little  that  his  laws  regularly  designated  the 
work  of  tanners,  shoemakers,  and  blacksmiths  as  "officios  viles 
y  baxos"  (low  and  debasing  occupations).  To  take  up  kitchen 
service  did  not  disgrace  a  noble,  if  it  was  only  temporary,  but  the 
exercise  of  a  manual  trade  was  an  ineradicable  stain. 3  Under  such 
circumstances  is  it  any  wonder  that  the  design  of  exploiting  the 
colonies  for  the  benefit  of  Spanish  industry  did  not  particularly 
interest  the  government? 

Industry  in  the  Colonies. — In  1545  Charles  V  expressly  ordered 
that  the  governors  should  encourage  the  cultivation  of  hemp 
and  flax  and  also  spinning  and  weaving  on  the  part  of  the  natives. 

1  This  was  doubted  by  no  one  at  that  time.     Compare  W.  Raleigh,  The  Dis- 
covery of  Guiane,  preface. 

2  Compare  the  resolutions  of  the  Cortes  between  1550  and  1560.     L.  v.  Ranke, 
Fursten  und  Volker,  I,  400  ff.     [In  English  as  The  Ottoman  and  Spanish  Empires 
in  the  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Centuries,  tr.  by  W.  K.  Kelly,  London,  1843. — B.] 

3  Prescott,  History  of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  II,  ch.  26. 


INDUSTRY  IN  THE  COLONIES  43 

In  1548  the  exportation  of  raw  hides  to  Spain  was- much  £;.*'«, red 
by  the  same  prince,  and  in  1572  the  production  of  raw  wool 
was  considerably  encouraged  by  his  successor.1  G  .  the  other 
hand  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  by  the  colonists  was  strictly 
forbidden;  only  those  vineyards  previously  existing  in  Peru  were 
allowed  under  a  pretty  high  tax  (law  of  1595),  but  no  Peruvian 
wine  was  permitted  to  be  sold  outside  of  South  America.2  In 
the  year  1628  the  law  was  enacted  that  every  new  manufacturing 
enterprise  required  the  consent  of  not  only  the  viceroy,  but  of 
the  king  himself;  chiefly,  as  it  appears,  with  the  intention  of 
protecting  the  Indians  from  new  claims  to  service  by  their  en- 
comenderos.3  But  one  may  easily  understand  how  effectually 
this  law  could  be  used  to  fetter  every  industrial  activity,  partic- 
ularly during  the  eighteenth  century.  Such  was  the  result,  for 
example,  in  Humboldt's  time,  less  in  consequence  of  general 
measures  than  because  of  a  mass  of  particular  obstacles  which 
were  imposed  upon  industry  by  the  authorities.4  What  indus- 
trial products  the  Indians  required  were  supplied  in  great  part 
by  themselves  by  labor  at  home.  This  was  the  case  in  Quito,  in 
Peru,  and  especially  in  Mexico.5 

But  a  short  time  ago  Mexico  consumed  scarcely  four  times 
as  much  of  European  commodities  as  Caracas,  although  its 
population  was  eight  times  as  large — a  natural  result  of  the  fact 
that  a  much  larger  proportion  of  tne  population  were  Indians.6 
The  European  stuffs  which  were  wanted  by  the  white  people 
all  had  to  come  from  Spain  and  for  this  reason  were  known  as 

1  Recopilacion,  IV,  18,  20,  23,  2.      However,  in  1621  Philip  IV  wished  those 
skilled  in  manufacturing  to  know  that  they  were  excepted  from  the  general  prohi- 
bition that  no  foreigners  should  be  found  in  America  (IX,  27,  10).     Moreover, 
that  the  minister  Galvez,  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  established 
powder-factories  in  America  was  a  violation  of  all  earlier  governmental  maxims. 
(Bourgoing,  II,  97.) 

2  Recopilacion,  IV,  17,  18;   IV,  18,  15,  18.     Cortes,  on  the  contrary,  had  en- 
couraged vine-growing  in  New  Spain  as  much  as  possible;   in  every  repartimiento 
there  was  planted  a  certain  number  of  vines  (Prescott,  Conquest  of  Mexico,  III, 

238). 

3  Recopilacion,  IV,   26. 
4Humboldt,  Neuspanien,  IV,  258. 
5Ulloa,  Viage,  I,  6,  i;    II,  i,  n. 

6  Humboldt,  R.  H.,  Ill,  113. 


44  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL   SYSTEM 

Castilian  goods.1  It  was  chiefly  in  Seville  that  Spanish  industry 
made  use  of  American  raw  materials,  and  there  most  of  the 
establishments  were  in  the  possession  of  the  crown.  For  example, 
the  manufacture  of  tobacco  and  of  bronze  ordnance  and  the  coinage 
of  the  precious  metals  flourished  at  Seville.2  Of  the  manufactures 
exported  to  America,  the  greater  part  (it  is  said  nineteen-twen- 
tieths)  was  made  in  England,  Holland,  France,  etc.,  and  the 
Spaniards  themselves,  apart  from  their  own  illicit  trade,  had 
only  two  kinds  of  profit  from  it.  In  the  first  place  the  national 
treasury  secured  the  considerable  customs  which  had  to  be  paid 
in  transit  through  Spain.  Second,  the  merchants,  shipowners,  etc., 
gained  from  the  many  charges  which  were  added  to  the  price  of 
the  goods  and  were  paid  again  by  the  Americans.  In  order 
to  avoid,  at  least,  the  customs  an  immense  partial  smuggling 
was  carried  on  at  Cadiz.  The  silk,  stocking,  calico,  and  wax 
manufactories  there  were  apparently  of  only  small  capacity, 
but  at  the  same  time  had  an  enormous  output.  In  fact  they 
served  chiefly  merely  as  a  mask,  under  which  their  managers 
were  able  to  send  great  quantities  of  foreign  goods  to  America 
without  incurring  too  great  suspicion.3  Moreover,  the  colonists 
had  become  so  thoroughly  accustomed  to  having  the  foreign 
commerce  in  the  hands  of  the  peninsular  Spaniards  that  the 
internal  trade  of  America,  the  retail  shopkeeping,  was  carried 
on  in  great  part  by  chapetons  or  Canary-Islanders.  As  is  the 
case  in  many  countries  which  possess  little  real  productive  and 
commercial  enterprise,  the  shopkeeping  class  was  decidedly 
overcrowded.4 

As  an  important  connecting  link  between  the  fiscal  and  the 
mercantile  advantage  derived  by  Spain  from  the  colonies,  the 
quicksilver  royalty  deserves  to  be  mentioned.  Nowhere  in  the 
world  was  so  much  quicksilver  needed  as  in  Spanish  America, 
where  the  precious  metal  was  separated  from  the  ore  almost  solely 
by  amalgamation.  On  the  other  hand,  Spain  of  all  countries  of 

1  Ulloa,  Viage,  II,  i,  10. 

2  Bourgoing,  III,  99  ff . 
*Ibid.,    150. 

4  Ulloa,  Viage,  I,  27,  251.  Depons,  II,  425.  For  the  information  of  the 
reader  I  present  the  following  from  the  official  list  of  exports  and  imports  at 


CAUSES  OF  SPANISH   COLONIAL  DECLINE  45 

the  Old  World  is  by  far  the  richest  in  quicksilver.1  In  America 
itself,  until  a  short Jime  ago,  quicksilver  was  supplied  only  from 
the  mines  at  Guancavelica.  This,  therefore,  was  a  case  of  an 
important  economic  need  where  the  mother  country  and  colony 
were  appointed  for  each  other  by  nature  itself.2 

Causes  of  Spanish  Colonial  Decline,  -v-  The  Spanish  colonial 
empire  did  not  die  a  natural  death.  The  terrible  shock  given 
the  mother  country  by  Napoleon  was,  as  is  well-known,  the 
principal  cause  for  the  revolt  of  the  colonies:  the  captivity  of 
the  old  royal  house,  the  elevation  of  the  Bonapartist  dynasty, 
the  frightful  war  with  France,  and  finally  the  rapid  alteration  of 

Vera  Cruz  for  the  year  1803,  which  Humboldt  published  in  Neuspanien,  IV,  305, 
318.  There  came  from  Spain: 

Piastres. 

Spanish  raw  products  worth 2,010,423 

(More  than  1,546,000  piastres  of  this  was  wine,  brandy,  vinegar,  etc.) 

Spanish  manufactured  products 8,604,380 

(About  7,335,000  piastres  of  this  was  for  cloths,  in  which  the  above- 
mentioned  smuggling  was  especially  extensive.) 

Foreign  goods 7,878,486 

(Of  which  again  more  than  7,500,000  were  cloths.) 

Imports  from  other  Spanish  colonies 1,373,428 

(The  imports  of  wax  alone  were  almost  462,000  piastres  and  for 
cocoa  more  than  700,000.) 

Total 19,866,717 

The  exports  to  Spain  were  worth 12,017,062 

(More  than  2,238,000  of  this  was  cochineal,  263,729  indigo,  sugar 
almost  1,500,000,  gold  142,229,  and  silver  7,356,530.) 

Exports  to  other  Spanish  colonies 2,465,846 

(Of  which  again  21,730  was  gold  and  1,834,146  silver.) 

Total 14,482,908 

What  was  imported  and  exported  on  the  government  account  was  not  in- 
cluded. The  most  important  was  an  exportation  of  6,200,000  piastres  of  gold, 
and  an  importation  of  2,500  tons  of  quicksilver  and  280,000  reams  of  paper  for 
the  use  of  royal  tobacco  manufacture. 

1  The  total  European  production  is  estimated  at  about  1,460,000  kilograms 
annually,  of  which  Almaden  alone  yields  1,100,000  (Duflot  de  Mofras,  I,  50  ff.). 
[Later  these  amounts  have  been  much  changed  by  the  increased  production  in 
Austria-Hungary,  as  well  as  in  Spain.     In  1895  the  amount  mined  in  Spain  was 
1,506,000  kilograms,  and  in  1898  California  produced  1,058,000  kilograms. — B.] 

2  Compare  Ulloa,   Noticias  Americanas,  cap.   12-15.     Spain  lately  derived 
from  Mexico,  through  the  rise  in  the  price  of  quicksilver,  almost  as  much  as 
formerly  from  the  right  of  coining.     Why  has  Mexico  not  made  the  attempt  to 
secure  the  lease  of  the  mines  of  Almaden  for  herself  instead  of  allowing  it  to  be 
acquired  by  the  Rothschilds? 


4&  THE  SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

absolutist  and  constitutional  rule  through  revolution  in  Spain 
herself.  As  a  result  the  old  carefully  transmitted  structure  of 
colonial  institutions,  ideas,  and  policy  was  completely  thrown 
out  of  joint./  The  keystone  was  removed,  as  it  were;  this  was 
particularly  the  case  when  many  of  the  highest  colonial  officials 
vacillated  between  the  legitimate  kings  and  the  usurper.  When 
at  the  same  time  the  mother  country  was  in  such  pressing  need 
of  the  political  help  of  England,  it  was  really  impossible  to  pre- 
vent her  invading  the  colonial  markets.  One  hundred  years 
earlier  (during  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession)  the  old  system 
of  the  Philips  had  successfully  withstood  similar  dangers;  the 
new  Bourbon  system,  however,  completely  honeycombed  from 
within,  was  no  longer  strong  enough  to  do  so.  In  addition,  after 
the  restoration  of  general  peace  in  Europe,  the  English  both  pri- 
vately (Lord  Cochran)  and  as  a  part  of  public  policy  (Canning) 
favored  according  to  their  means  the  separation  of  the  Spanish 
colonies  from  the  mother  country.  The  results  have  shown, 
unfortunately,  that  these  colonies  were  by  no  means  all  ripe  for 
freedom.  It  is  much  easier  to  win  independence  than  worthily 
to  maintain  it.  If  I  except  the  colonies  of  Caracas  and  Chile, 
which  were  neglected  by  the  mother  country,  the  condition  of 
the  remainder  of  Spanish  America  for  sixty  years  has  been  such 
that  one  could  only  wish  ,that  they  had  remained  for  a  longer 
*/  time  dependent.  There  was  an  immense  decline  in  economic 
prosperity;1  for  example,  the  German  linen  trade  suffered  from 
this  most  keenly;  insurrections  of  the  troops  have  been  unending, 
yet  without  high  motives  and  even  without  any  real  bravery,  as, 
for  instance,  in  Buenos  Ayres  once,  where  fifteen  presidents  were 
overthrown  within  nine  months,  although  every  one  of  them  was 
chosen  for  three  years; 2  a  perfect  venality  of  justice  has  prevailed, 
and  consequently  such  a  contempt  for  law  that  the  traveller  often 
found  more  protection  with  the  leaders  of  robber  bands  than 
with  the  authorities;3  finally  there  has  been  an  oppression  of  the 

1  Mexico  had,  for  a  long  time,  even  in  time  of  peace,  an  annual  deficit  of 
almost  3,000,000  piastres,  while  as  a  colony  it  was  able  to  send  an  immense 
surplus  to  the  mother  country  and  other  colonies  (Duflot  de  Mofras,  I,  62). 

2  Ch.  Darwin,  Journal  of  Researches^  I,  141,  295. 

3  When  the  Swiss  consul  was  robbed  and  murdered  in  Mexico  in   1835,  an 
adjutant  of  President  Santa  Anna  was  at  the  head  of  the  band  of  robbers  (Duflot 
de  Mofras,  I,   16). 


CAUSES   OF   SPANISH   COLONIAL  DECLINE  47 

natives,  harder  to  endure,  as  it  has  been  less  systematic,  which,  some 
day,  may  lead  to  a  war  of  extermination  against  the  whole  Span- 
ish raceTJ  The  sad  picture  which  Duflot  de  Mofras,  Ferry,1  and 
otherFnave  presented  of  Mexico,  Stephens  of  Central  America,  and 
Tschudi  of  Peru  was  fully  justified  during  the  war  between  Mexico 
and  the  United  States.  The  Americans  would  find  no  stronger 
resistance,  even  as  far  as  the  southern  boundary  of  the  Spanish 
colonial  empire,  except  possibly  in  Caracas  and  Chile  and  among 
the  wild  nomads  of  Buenos  Ayres.  Alexander  von  Humboldt, 
shortly  before  his  death,  said  to  Wappaus,2  "The  United  States 
will  absorb  the  whole  of  Mexico  and  then  fall  to  pieces  herself. " 

But  I  do  not  once  think  that,  without  the  shock  to  the  mother 
country,  the  mere  logical  adherence  to  the  old  Spanish  system 
could  have  guaranteed  the  prosperity  of  the  colonial  empire. 
A  state  which  discourages  and  must  discourage  every  internal 
development  will  surely  succumb,  in  the  end,  to  some  more  highly 
developed  foreign  power.  About  1792  the  Spanish  navy  num- 
bered 80  ships  of  the  line,  48  frigates,  and  79  corvettes,  etc. ; 3  how 
insignificant  it  is  to-day!  How  little  would  it  be  in  a  position 
now  to  defend  the  old  colonial  dominions  against  peaceful  or 
warlike  attacks  of  the  European  sea  powers!  And  how  much 
more  irresistibly  still  would  her  neighbor  in  North  America, 
with,  her  energy,  activity,  and  recklessness,  know  how  to  put 
an  end  to  the  Spanish  system  of  isolation!  In  1803  the  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States,  Aaron  Burr,  announced,  openly, 
his  intention  to  revolutionize  and  conquer  New  Spain.4 

1  [Gabriel  Ferry,  author  of  Les  Revolutions  du  Mexique,  Paris,  1864,  Souvenirs 
de  Mexique  et  de  Calif ornie,  Paris,  1884,  and  other  works  in  the  same  field. — B.] 

2  Op.  eiL,   133. 

3  Bourgoing,  II,  106-144. 

4  The  most  important  survival  of  the  old  Spanish  colonial  system  is  to  be  found 
to-day  in  the  Philippines,  where  especially  the  native  Tagals  are  even  now  sub- 
ject to  a  sort  of  life-long  guardianship  under  the  special  care  of  the  clergy.     Com- 
pare Jurien  de  la  Graviere,  Voyage  en  Chine,  etc.,  II,  1853.     [On  the  great  changes 
that  have  taken  place  in  Mexico  see  C.  F.  Lummis,  The  Awakening  of  a  Nation: 
Mexico  of  To-day \  1898;   on  Aaron  Burr's  project,  W.  F.  McCaleb,  The  Aaron  • 
Burr  Conspiracy,  1903;  and  on  the  Spanish  Colonial  System  as  exemplified  in 
the  Philippines,  besides  the  works  of  Foreman  and  Jagor,  the  Historical  Intro- 
duction by  the  writer  to  the  great  documentary  publication  The  Philippine  Islands, 
Cleveland,  1903,  and  the  historical  section  of  the  article  "Philippines"  (also  by 
the  writer)  in  The  New  International  Encyclopedia.     In  regard  to  Burr  it  should 
be  remarked  that  it  was  in  1805,  after  he  had  ceased  to  be  Vice-President,  that 
he  announced  his  intentions,  and  not  strictly  "openly  "  at- that  time. — B.] 


48  THE   SPANISH   COLONIAL  SYSTEM 

How  slight  was  the  natural  bond  between  old  Spain  and 
most  of  Her  colonies  is  to  be  seen  most  plainly  in  the  present 
trade  relations  with  Peru.  In  1854  the  exports  of  this  country 
to  Spain  were  worth  only  about  20,000  francs  annually,  but  those 
to  England  fully  30,000,000.  The  importations  from  Spain  were 
over  2,000,000,  those  from  France  5,000,000,  and  those  from 
England  18,000,000.  The  number  of  tons  of  Spanish  shipping 
in  the  trade  with  Peru  amounted  to  only  3,200,  that  of  England 
151,000  tons.1  In  the  shipping  reports  for  1876  (incoming 
338,547  tons,  outgoing  404,462  tons)  Spain  is  considerably 
behind  Sweden  and  is  included  under  "various,"  her  shipping 
amounting  in  all  to  8,154  tons.  The  same  is  true  in  Chile  and 
Argentina.2  In  general  one  can  say  that  if  the  Spanish  colonies 
have  developed  so  much  more  poorly  than  the  English,  it  is  due 
in  great  part  to  the  fact  that  since  the  restoration  of  peace  the 
former  have  remained  almost  wholly  separated  from  Spain, 
while  the  latter  very  soon  resumed  their  connection  with  England 
in  every  sphere  except  the  political,  and  a  connection  highly 
advantageous  for  both.3  But  whence  was  this  difference  itself? 
Chiefly  because  Spain  for  a  long  time  and  in  every  respect  had 
been  a  fallen  nation,  whose  nationality,  as  such,  no  longer  pos- 
sessed power  enough  to  hold  together  a  hemisphere  under  the 

conditions  of  freedom. 

i 

1  Journal  des  Economistes,  May,  1854. 

2  Leroy-Beaulieu,  De  la  Colonisation,  40  ff. 

3  Compare  Wappaus,  Mittel-  und  Sudamerica,  117  ff. 


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